Without Means and Immunity
by Scovall
Summary: This is my take on the way season 2 should go.  It features all four members of our favorite crime fighting team as they struggle to undo the damage done by Wo Fat.  How will they do without "Means and Immunity"?
1. Chapter 1

_Please be patient with this prologue. It doesn't have any of our favorite heroes in it but it lays important ground work for later. The next chapter will pick up with Steve, Danny, Kono, Chin, and the aftermath of the season finale._

_Disclaimer: They belong to CBS._

**A Prologue in Three Acts**

**Act I: Catherine**

Catherine Rollins was sitting at a small table at a sidewalk café in Greece, enjoying some long overdue shore leave. She was alone at the table. Several very handsome, dark Greek men had given her questioning looks, but she hadn't given any of them the encouragement they were seeking to join her.

The breeze stirred her long black hair. Being able to wear it loose was one of the luxuries of shore leave. Sometimes Catherine thought about just cutting off, like most of the women in the Navy. In the end, she kept it long because she preferred it that way. The fact that a certain Lt. Cmdr. Steven McGarrett also preferred her hair long had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Catherine sighed, some of her good mood gone. She had always assumed that this thing with Steve would burn itself out. Instead, he seemed to consume more and more of her thoughts. Maybe it was time to take one of these incredibly hot Greeks up on his unspoken offer. Then she remembered the key tucked away in her quarters back on the Enterprise. It was the house key Steve had given her the last time she was in Hawaii, along with the alarm code. She had protested that it was a silly thing to do when she spent so much time so far away.

Cat sighed again, a soft, dreamy sound this time, as she remembered the rare tender look on Steve's face when he told her that he hoped having the key would bring her home more often. It was a ridiculous thing to say. Her home was in Nebraska. Still, she would definitely not be spending time with any Greek gentlemen this shore leave.

She was just about to signal the waiter for her check when a man sat down in the chair across from her. Cat immediately knew something was wrong. She was a very bright woman who worked in Naval Intelligence. She recognized instantly that this man with the steely eyes that matched the military style gray hair was not here to flirt with her.

"Lt. Rollins," his cordial tone did not hide the tension in his muscular shoulders. He did not seem completely comfortable out in the open.

Catherine nodded back pleasantly but remained silent, waiting for him to speak.

"Steven McGarrett has gotten himself into a very difficult situation. You might be in a position to help him."

Cat had been expecting him to say something about one of her more recent assignments. Or perhaps offer her a job – many of the intelligence agencies had mysterious recruitment methods. This announcement about Steve caught her off guard.

"What kind of situation?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady and her face blank, may be even appear disinterested, but she could feel her heart pounding against her ribs.

"McGarrett was arrested a few hours ago for the double murders of Governor Jameson and one of her aids," he made it sound so matter-of-fact.

Catherine gasped, "Steve would never do that." She collected herself before continuing, "Why are you here telling me this? I'd ask who you are but I doubt you'll answer that one."

"McGarrett has started some kind of feud with a Chinese crime lord named Wo Fat. Wo Fat is behind McGarrett's current difficulties."

"If you can prove that, why don't you send the evidence to the Hawaiian police?" Catherine couldn't believe they were discussing this so _normally_. A part of her wanted badly to grab her cell phone and start making phone calls to find out exactly where Steve was and if was okay.

The man across the table pulled a small flash drive out of his pocket, "The information can't come through official channels. McGarrett has made a lot of friends in certain agencies. We'd like to help him but we can't act directly."

Catherine considered that for a moment. It sounded like CIA bullshit to her. "I'll ask again: Why are you telling me this?"

"If you're willing, I can give you this flash drive and arrange your immediate transfer to the base at Pearl Harbor. This information won't be enough by itself to clear McGarrett, but I'm sure that if you work with the rest of his team, you'll be able to prove his innocence."

Catherine was a smart woman. She understood what wasn't being said. The posting at Pearl wouldn't offer her the chances for advancement that her current posting did. It also wouldn't sit well with her current CO if she left in the middle of her assignment, further damaging her career. There was also no guarantee that she could even help Steve, or that the rest of his team couldn't help him without her.

The man pushed his chair back like he was going to get up, "This is a very limited time offer. I need your answer right now." Catherine started to protest but he cut her off, "Steve is facing a certain guilty verdict and the death penalty – if he survives in prison long enough to make it to trial."

All uncertainty vanished. Catherine held out her hand for the flash drive.

He gave it to her with a nod, "Good. Report back to your ship immediately and you'll find that the orders have already come through. You'll be in Hawaii in 24 hours," he paused as if considering if he should say more, "Be careful."

**Act II: Jenna**

Jenna Kaye was sitting on the edge of the bed in her hotel room, dangerously close to hyperventilating. This was all much, much too **REAL** for an analyst used to the safety of her desk at Langley.

It wasn't that she hadn't known how powerful and dangerous Wo Fat was. It was that there had always been strong, brave, good people standing between her and that danger. People like her fiancé and McGarrett. Now they were gone – Sam dead and Steve in jail. If Wo Fat could get them, what chance did she have? Jenna realized for the first time just how vulnerable she was.

She couldn't do this. She wasn't strong enough. That was why Jenna had called her supervisor back at the CIA. She had been prepared to beg for her job but it had been easy. Jenna was very good at her job and they were happy to have her back.

The television was on, but the volume was muted. Images of Steve being led into the police station played over and over on the news channels. He looked shocked and broken.

Looking at her packed suitcases, Jenna was wracked by a fresh wave of guilt. She knew Steve was being framed. She knew that she should stay and help nail Wo Fat, but she can't. All she can do is what she's already done. Earlier, Jenna had gathered every scrap of evidence they had and made multiple copies.

She left one in Kono's apartment. Fortunately, she was able to get in and out before IA set up their surveillance. She left another copy at Chin's house. She would have left Danny a copy but his apartment had looked strangely packed up, kind of like her hotel room. Instead, she would leave that copy in a locker at the airport and send the key to Chin at HPD.

The front desk called to let her know that her taxi was there. Jenna mechanically turned off the TV and gathered her bags. It was time to go.

**Act III: Rachel**

Rachel Edwards guided her tired daughter through LAX, searching for the correct gate for their connecting flight. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Danny was supposed to be there, helping her maneuver the luggage through the crowds.

"Look!" Grace cried out, coming to an abrupt stop, "It's Uncle Steve." She was pointing to one of the TV's placed throughout the airport. This one was tuned to CNN. Rachel and Grace watched in stunned silence as Steve McGarrett was taken, in handcuffs, from the back of a police car and into the station. There was no volume but Rachel could tell from the graphics that Steve was being arrested for murdering the Governor.

No wonder Danny hadn't shown up at the airport. Was he okay? Had he been arrested, too?

"Mom, what's going on? Is Uncle Steve in trouble?" Grace's frightened questions spurred Rachel to action.

"I don't know darling, but we're going to find out," Rachel took Grace's hand and led her away from the gate and towards the first class passengers' internet lounge. There were more important

An hour later, Rachel logged off the public computer, feeling steadier than she had since before she found out she was pregnant. Her initial searches had convinced her that Danny was not in any immediate trouble but would not be leaving Hawaii any time soon.

Staring at a photograph snapped by a reporter outside the governor's mansion, Rachel had realized what she had to do. The photo showed a devastated Danny helplessly watching a wrecked Steve being loaded into the police car.

Rachel had spent her life running away. She had fled working class Manchester for London. After finding her sister and her first true boyfriend in bed, Rachel had fled London for a job in New York. When her marriage had crumbled, she had latched onto Stan and fled to Hawaii. Now she was fleeing Hawaii.

Looking at that picture, she had finally understood what it was to stay and fight. Danny had fought to save their marriage, he had fought for Grace, he had fought for Matty, and now he would fight for Steve. He didn't always win, but he didn't give up on the people he loved.

So Rachel made a series of phone calls and reservations. She checked her watch. She had just enough time to call Danny before she and Grace had to leave for their gate. They had missed their original connection but Rachel had rebooked.

"Grace, pack up your things while I call your father." Grace was coloring at a small table nearby. She hurried to comply so that she could talk to him, too.

Danny answered on the second ring. He sounded worse than Rachel had ever heard him, except for when the judge ruled she could take Grace to Hawaii. "Rachel, I'm so sorry I missed the flight. I wanted-"

"Danny, I know what happened. It's all over the news. I have one question: Did Steve do this?"

"No," his tone left no room for doubt, "Steve is being framed."

"Then you need to stay there and clear his name," Rachel answered without hesitation.

"I know that I need to be here for Steve and Kono, but you and Gracie and the baby need me too. We're a family. I won't be like Jack McGarrett and send my family away," Rachel had never heard Danny sound so torn and that made her certain that she was doing the right thing.

"You are absolutely correct, about everything," she told him, "Don't let it go to your head. It probably won't happen again." She listened to Danny's sad chuckle before continuing, "That is why I am going to take Gracie to your parents' house and then I am coming back to Hawaii."

"What? No, absolutely not. Wo Fat is dangerous. You need to stay in New Jersey with Grace."

Rachel smiled, picturing Danny with the phone in one hand and making wild gestures with the other.

"Danny, its already arranged. Your parents are happy to keep Grace for a few weeks. Its summer vacation so she isn't missing school. I won't run away from my family but I do appreciate the danger, which is why Grace is going to have this lovely visit with her grandparents," Rachel's tone made it clear that any further protests would be futile.

"I love you," Danny told her.

"I know. Now talk to your daughter for a few minutes before we have to board. I'll see you in three days."

_Thank you for reading. I hope that everything seemed in character. I promise the next chapter will focus on the main character, not the supporting cast._


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you so much to everyone who read, reviewed, and alerted the first chapter. As promised, the Five-0 team returns in this chapter._

_Disclaimer: They belong to CBS._

Danny hit the end button on his cell phone and slumped over against a tree. His posture was exhausted and defeated. Calling Mary had been one of the hardest things he had ever had to do. He had done it anyway because knew that Steve wouldn't want his sister to learn about this catastrophe from the news reports.

She had wanted to get on the next plane to Hawaii but Danny had talked her out of it, for now at least. He also knew that Steve wouldn't want her to see him this way. Coming back would only make her a target for Wo Fat, another way for him to strike at Steve while Steve was helpless. Thinking about it made Danny's stomach churn.

He looked down at the phone and thought about calling Rachel. When he had tried earlier, it had gone directly to voicemail (_Of course it did – she's on a plain, idiot_). There were a million things he wanted to say to her but nothing that seemed appropriate for voicemail. He'd wait until he knew that his girls were in New Jersey before trying again.

Suddenly, Danny didn't know what to do next. It was well after Midnight and he was standing in the dark under the trees that lined the street by HPD headquarters. Across the street was a hive of activity and lights as reporters tried to swarm the building. Fortunately, they hadn't noticed Danny in the shadows. He had no desire to be assaulted by their questions. Going home felt wrong, going back to Five-0 HQ was impossible. He considered going to Steve's house, but the thought of being there to see HPD tear it apart made his stomach roll some more.

He should find Kono and make sure that she was okay. He should find Jenna and see what she had been up to. He wanted to see Steve but that would impossible until at least tomorrow.

Danny was so drained that he didn't see Chin in the darkness until the other man was almost on top of him. He acknowledged his former teammate with a cold glare.

"Danny, please let me explain," Chin pleaded softly. "I know Steve isn't guilty. Being part of HPD is letting me be part of the investigation. I can make sure that nothing that would help Steve is ignored or swept under the rug."

Rationally, Danny understood the logic of what Chin was saying. In his head, he kept seeing Chin pushing Steve into the back of the police car. It was too soon to forgive that. He couldn't give Chin the unconditional trust that he could yesterday, so he settled for giving him a chance.

"What's your plan?"

Chin relaxed, like he had may have been expecting Danny to take a swing at him. He smiled gratefully. "I'll let you know in a minute. We need to wait for Kono."

As if on cue, the youngest member of the Five-0 appeared out of the shadows. "What happened?" she demanded, "I saw Steve being booked. They're saying that he killed the Governor."

Chin gave them both a quick run down of what they had found at the Governor's mansion.

"They photographed taser burns on Steve's neck?" Kono asked when he was done.

Chin nodded, "And they are well documented so there won't be any question about it later."

"How is it," Danny began, "that the man can run _unscathed_ through a hail of bullets, but every two bit thug with a taser can take him down?"

They all laughed softly before the mood became tense again.

"So what do we do next?" Kono asked, "We have to prove Steve didn't do this."

"I've been thinking about that," Chin replied, "Tomorrow, or later today I guess, I'm taking crime scene techs to the Governor's office and Steve's house. I'll be able to make sure that everything is done by the book and nothing is missed."

Part of Danny still didn't trust Chin but he realized that, without his presence, any evidence that could clear Steve could easily disappear. He did have one concern, "Is the Champ box still at Steve's house? If HPD finds it, it will look bad for him."

"I think Jenna has it," Kono told them, "It may have been at HQ, in which case HPD already has it. Otherwise, it should be safe."

"We'll have to let that go for now," Danny decided, "We need to connect Kaye. I'm kind of surprised she hasn't turned up yet. Wonder where she is. We need her to get started on the figure prints from Laura Hills house. They were obviously planted and there has to be some way to prove it."

"I can help her with that," Kono volunteered.

Chin shook his head sadly, "No, Cuz, you can't. You're suspended. IA is going to be watching your every move. You have to let us do the work on this."

Kono started to protest but then stopped. Chin was right. Any evidence that she found right now would be considered tainted.

"We'll get this sorted out," Danny reassured her, "The only link between you and that money is one old lady who saw you for like a minute, months ago. That won't hold up. This is just a distraction to make it harder for us to help Steve." He paused and his expression became more sober, "I don't know how much help I can be either. I don't even know if I still have a job. I'm probably on the outside, too."

"You do, brah," Chin told him, "You've been assigned to me but Chief Mahaka wants you on desk duty," Chin shrugged apologetically, "There's nothing I can do about it but I do know how to put your time to good use."

"Please enlighten me," Danny invited sarcastically, clearly rankled by being forced to take desk duty.

Chin smiled, "We need to follow the money."

"He's right," Kono realized," The Governor put 10 million dollars, _in cash_, into the asset forfiture locker. She couldn't have come up with an amount that large without leaving some kind of trail."

Danny groaned. The money trail would be time consuming and tedious, but they were right about it being one of their best possible leads. "Fine. I'm going to get a few hours of sleep and then I'll report for work and get started."

"I'll find Kaye and get her started on the finger prints," Kono paused uncertainly and looked towards the police station, "What about Steve? If feels wrong to leave him in there all alone."

Chin put a comforting hand on her arm, "We can't do anything else for him here tonight. I've talked to Kamekono and he's arranging for one of the best defense attorneys on the island."

"The best thing we can do for Steve is find the evidence that will get him out," Danny agreed, "Once he's allowed visitors, you'll be able to see him, and, since I'm riding a desk, I can check in on him, too."

Kono nodded reluctantly. They all felt a little like they were abandoning their leader, but there was no other choice.

As he walked away, Danny's cell phone rang. He glanced at the display: Rachel. He his accept immediately, "Rachel, I'm so sorry . . ."

_The next chapter will have Steve McGarrett, action, and explosions (although may be not all together). I hope everyone is enjoying._


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you again to everyone who is reading, alerting, or, especially, reviewing this story. I apologize because this chapter is super long but I really wanted to get to Steve's part._

_Disclaimer: I, of course, do not own these characters._

Patrick Page, decorated former Marine turned politician, spent a moment watching the crowd disperse. Yesterday he had been the Lt. Governor; today he had just taken the oath of the highest elected official in Hawaii. The sun had only been up for an hour, but Page already felt like he had been in motion for an entire day.

Pat Jameson was dead. It still felt surreal. They had not been close friends but he had always admired her intelligence and political savvy. They had worked well together. He would miss her.

"Governor Page," he looked over at the aide waiting respectfully for his attention and nodded, "The daily briefing is waiting in your office."

"Is there anything urgent in it?" Page asked as he left the conference room and headed back to his temporary office.

"There is one item," the young man paused, looking uncomfortable, "A major gang of drug runners is moving a shipment through Honolulu. HPD has a tip it will go down in the next few days."

Page stopped walking. His staff was currently an amalgamation of his own people and Jameson's. He thought the aide's name was Tim, but he wasn't certain. There were too many things he wasn't certain about right now. "What would Governor Jameson have done? Let HPD handle it, or called in the Feds for assistance?"

Tim's eyes were huge and the color had drained from his face. He looked like he might actually faint. With his military background, Page had no patience for this kind of thing.

"Spit it out," he commanded.

"She would have turned it over to Five-0."

Page nodded. He didn't know Lieutenant Commander McGarrett personally but he knew of his exemplary military service. He was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that McGarrett had murdered two women. Still, the facts spoke for themselves.

That still left the question of what to do about the drug runners. Page felt confident that he had the answer to that, "Please have Lt. Crosby from HPD come to my office immediately."

Darren Crosby had served under page in the Corp. Page had even helped him get his job with HPD. He was a good man.

Jameson had been on to something when she formed the Five-0. The surge in her approval ratings and the drop in crime proved it. Unfortunately, she had put her faith in the wrong person. Page wouldn't make that mistake. His taskforce wouldn't have rookies or tainted former officers. It would have solid, decorated veteran police officers that he and Crosby would choose themselves. And it would start proving itself immediately, with this drug case.

_H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**_

Chin struggled to keep his face from revealing to the younger officers around him how tired and frustrated he was. He was operating on only 3 hours of sleep on the couch in his office. He had already personally been over every inch of Governor Jameson's office this morning. The only thing he had found that was even slightly unusual were several partially empty drawers. The instincts he had developed during his years of detective work told Chin that there were things missing from those drawers. Instinct wasn't going to be nearly enough to help Steve.

The second Chin declared the office cleared, an army of cleaners rushed in, intent on getting the office ready for the new Governor. He watched, unconcerned, as they started gathering trash. Chin had been through the cans and knew there was nothing useful there. For a moment, he wished life could be like TV, where the villain left some key piece of evidence in the trash can for the good guys to find.

Then Chin had a thought, "Kukua, Baker, let's check the dumpsters on our way out."

"Sure thing, Lieutenant."

The three men headed down the stairs, towards the back of the building where the dumpsters sat. They ran into a young female officer in the back hallway. Her eyes sparked with excitement.

"Have you heard the news?" she asked.

"What's going on?" Kukua wanted to know.

"Darren Crosby is meeting with the new Governor right now," she lowered her voice, like she letting them in on a secret, "He's going to head Page's new taskforce, the new Five-0."

Chin tried not to react but he must have made some small sound because the other three suddenly all staring at him. The young women seemed to realize who he was and hurried away. Chin's officers both shifted uncertainly, not sure if they should say something or not. Chin waved off their concern and pushed his way through the doors into the back alley.

Three typical open top dumpsters where lined up against the wall. All three were fairly full. Chin guessed a truck would be by to empty them soon.

"What are we looking for?" Baker seemed skeptical that there was anything to find here.

Chin approached the first dumpster, "Just give me a minute."

The top layers were a combination of garbage bags and loose trash, typical office refuse like papers, junk mail, and coffee grounds.

In the second dumpster, Chin found 4 large, light bags on top. All four were stuffed with shredded papers. Based on their position on the very top and the fact that nothing had crushed them yet, he was willing to bet that they had only recently been thrown out. So someone had done a large amount of shredding either very late the previous day or sometime during the night.

"This is what we're looking for," Chin told his men, "We need to get these bags back to the lab immediately so they can get started reconstructing the documents."

"That's going to be very time consuming," Baker pointed out, "You caught McGarrett standing over the Governor with the gun in his hand. Do we really need to work this hard to make the case?"

Chin was tired enough that he let Baker distract him and he failed to register the sound of the motorcycle coming up fast from behind him. It was only the look of surprise on Baker's face that alerted him to the fact that something was wrong. Acting purely on instinct, Chin threw himself up against the alley wall. He wasn't quite fast enough to avoid the bike entirely. The handle bar caught his arm and flung his hard onto the grimy ground.

Through a pain-filled haze, Chin watched the rider throw a firebomb into the middle dumpster. It ignited instantly, filling the alley with acrid black smoke. The street bike rider sped off without waiting to see the results of his handiwork.

Baker, who had been further off to the side, safely out of the way, hurried to Chin's side, "Lieutenant are you okay?" He urged Chin to his feet, "We need to get away from the fire."

Chin pulled roughly away from him, "We need to save those bags!" He tried to reach the dumpster but the heat was too intense.

Baker grabbed his uninjured arm, "It's too late. There's nothing to save." He dragged Chin back inside the building, out of the thick smoke.

Chin was despondent. His arm was throbbing but the pain seemed unimportant. He had been so close to finding something important – the attack in the alley proved it – and now it was gone.

"Are you guys alright?" Kukura asked, "I called for back-up and the fire department. They should be here in a minute."

"We're fine," Baker regarded the other man suspiciously, "Where did you go?"

"I had already grabbed the bags, so I brought them in here to keep them safe," he gestured to the four bags of paper shred.

Chin regarded Officer Ben Kakua with new respect and gratitude, "That's excellent work. Thank you."

Chin eyed the two younger men for a moment. Kakua had saved the evidence. Baker had failed to warn Chin about the motorcycle, had failed to do anything to stop the attacker, and had done nothing to save the bags.

He didn't know either officer well but he made a decision, "Baker, take the scene here. The biker had on a full body suit and helmet, but try surrounding surveillance cameras and see if you find anything useful. I want to personally see any footage you find. Kakua, bring those bags and come with me."

Kakua gathered up the bags of evidence and hurried after him, "Lieutenant, shouldn't you wait for the ambulance and have your arm checked out?"

Chin glanced down. His sleeve was torn and spotted with a little bit of blood. It hurt but he was able to move it and the bleeding seemed to have stopped. "I don't have time right now."

_H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**_

Kono threw herself down on her couch and pounded on the cushions in a display of anger and frustration. She had arrived home in the very early hours of the morning to find copies; both paper and digital, of every scrap of evidence Jenna Kaye had accumulated against Wo Fat. A very brief note told Kono that it was some sort of twisted good-bye-and-good-luck present.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to smash something. How could Jenna leave now when Steve desperately needed her help? (_When I desperately need her help?_)

Kono stubbornly refused to consider her own situation. Once Steve was cleared, her problems would work themselves out. (_Except that Steve is innocent and I really did take that money._) It would be tragically karmic if they cleared Steve of everything else and then the two of them went to jail for stealing for the asset forfeiture locker. Kono had absolutely no doubts that Steve would never let her go down for that alone.

She bounced off the couch and began to pace her tiny living room. She knew that she was too wound up to sleep. Kono was a former athlete and she thrived on action. She had to DO something.

May be she could catch up with Jenna at her hotel before she left. Convince her to stay and help them fight Wo Fat. Mind made up, Kono grabbed her car keys and headed out the door.

Forty-five minutes later, Kono sat slumped in the cruz's driver's seat as the sun finished rising in the review mirror. She was parked in front of Jenna's hotel. The very nice woman at the front desk had told her that Jenna had checked out and left in a cab almost an hour ago. Jenna had given the impression that she had a very early flight off the island.

Even if Kono could get to the airport in time, she wouldn't be able to get to the gate. She had tried calling Jenna's cell phone several times, but it went directly to voicemail each time.

Kono was exhausted, stressed, scared, and probably not thinking clearly. She still felt driven by the need to do _something_. If Jenna was beyond reach, maybe she could make sure that there was no incriminating evidence at Steve's house.

It was still early. Chin and the team from HPD wouldn't be there for hours yet. Plenty of time for her to slip in and out. HPD would be watching from the street but Kono had jogged with Steve enough times to know the beach paths that would allow her to sneak in. Satisfied with this new plan, she turned the key in the ignition.

Sneaking into Steve's house turned out to be even easier than Kono had imagined. She thought that she knew the alarm code but Steve had not even bothered to set it before leaving for the Governor's mansion. Picking the lock on the back door was cake – she'd been practicing.

Standing in Steve's living room, Kono was suddenly overwhelmed by the events of the past 24 hours. The house was neat but lived in. Everything felt like Steve had expected to be back shortly. Now he might never be back at all . . .

She was pulled away from her black thoughts by the vibration of her cell phone.

"Do you trust Charlie Fong?" Chin asked urgently when she hit the accept button.

"What? Why?" Kono's tired mind had trouble processing the unexpected question.

"I think that I may have found something important, but Wo Fat's people have already tried to destroy it. I need someone we can trust to work on it."

"Take it to Charlie," Kono instructed him, "He's good and I trust him."

Chin must have heard something off in her voice, "Are you alright, Kono?"

She made the decision not to tell him where she was. No reason to upset him more than necessary, and her other news was definitely upsetting, "Jenna' gone."

"Gone?" Now it was Chin's turn to not comprehend.

"She left us all the evidence and got on a plane back to D.C." The bitterness and betrayal Kono felt colored her voice.

"We'll figure it out," Chin reassured her, "I need to get this evidence to the lab right away. We'll meet tonight and make a new plan of attack."

"Side Street at 7:00?" Kono suggested.

"I'll let Danny know, "Chin paused, "Try to get some rest, Cuz, you sound tired."

"I will," she promised before hanging up.

Kono knew that she needed to look for the Champ box and then get out. The couch looked inviting. She just wanted to sit down for a minute and think, but once she sat Kono's lack of sleep finally caught up with her.

_H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**_

Danny stared at his computer screen and resisted the urge to tear his hair out. He knew how to track financial data but it wasn't his greatest strength. He functioned better out in the field, interacting with real human beings instead of numbers on a spreadsheet, but he had already learned what would happen if he tried.

The first thing he had done when he arrived that morning was attempt to see Steve. A very polite young police officer had informed him that only the approved detectives were allowed to interrogate McGarrett.

Danny had then been firmly escorted to this desk, sitting forlornly by itself in the back of the bullpen, and told to work on the files his Lieutenant had assigned to him. Since Chin was his Lieutenant, that at least wasn't a problem.

Before getting to work, Danny decided to pull up the interrogation logs and see just who had been talking to Steve. The answer: no one. He had been sitting in a holding cell without being questioned for 7 hours. That was _insane_. Steve was accused of _murdering the Governor_. There should have been all kinds of top brass demanding a confession. Something was very off about this but Danny couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

Resolving to keep an eye on the situation, Danny had gotten to work trying to locate and follow the 10 million dollars. Since it was highly unlikely that Pat Jameson had that kind of money just lying around, she had to get it from someone. Danny was certain that Wo Fat did have that kind of money but he was equally certain Wo Fat wouldn't have allowed a direct connect between himself and Jameson, so the money had to pass through other hands.

One person known to be connected to both Pat Jameson and Wo Fat, who also had access to millions of dollars, was Hiro Noshimuri. Since Five-0 had arrested him for his role in the kidnapping of Mary Ann McGarrett, which was still an open case, his financial records were already fair game. Unfortunately, once Noshimuri had made bale he had promptly claimed his brother's body and skipped the country with the excuse that he was taking his brother home to Japan for burial. Extradition hearings were still pending.

Danny had just started to dig in when the call came over the scanner that Chin and his men had been attacked in the alley behind the Palace. Without thinking, he had jumped up, prepared to head out and provide back-up. He had been headed off by a Captain, who had pointedly reminded him of the meaning of desk duty and watched him all the way back to his desk.

A few minutes later, Chin sent him a text message saying that he was taking evidence over to the lab. It was driving Danny crazy not knowing what kind of evidence, but he didn't have enough privacy to call Chin and ask.

After working the numbers a little more, Danny realized this line of investigation was going to require copious amounts of coffee. He thought mournfully of the gourmet coffee maker at Five-0 HQ as he sought out some of the swill that passed for coffee at HPD.

A group of detectives were gathered in the break room, clearly excited about something. Danny was prepared to ignore them but they had other ideas.

"Hey, Williams," one of the men called out, "Who do you think Crosby will pick?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Danny made sure to keep both his face and his tone pleasant as he got his coffee. It was clear these guys wanted some kind of reaction and Danny was determined not to give it to them.

"Darren Crosby is the new head of the Five-0. He needs to pick good people for his taskforce," the faint emphasis on 'good' was unmistakable.

Danny was stunned. The new Governor was already setting up his own taskforce? And he had stolen the name from Steve's father. He realized that the smirking detectives around him were still waiting for a response but he wasn't up to it. Danny grabbed his coffee and fled back to his desk.

He was sitting alone, cursing himself for giving them the satisfaction of seeing how upset he was, when Sgt. Duke Lukela approached him. Danny was wary, half expecting more ridicule.

"Williams, I thought you might want to know that McGarrett is being transferred to Hawala Prison."

Danny's head snapped up, "Transferred? When? He hasn't even been questioned yet. He hasn't met with his attorney. Who authorized it?"

Duke shrugged, "All I know is that they're taking him out the back door right now."

Danny was on his feet and running.

_H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**_

The door in front of him was opened and Steve was shoved roughly out into the bright early afternoon sun. It hurt his eyes after the harsh artificial light in his cell. Of course, the fact that one eye was swollen partially shut only added to the pain.

Steve exchanged glares with Officer Turner, the man responsible for the black eye. Turner himself sported a split lip from Steve's head butt.

Steve had actually been a cooperative prisoner. He knew that being combative would not help his cause. He needed to be patient and let the rest of his team help him.

Turner had been trying to start something with him all night. As a trained Navy SEAL, it was easy for Steve to ignore him. But when Turner actually entered his cell and started shoving him into the bars, Steve had unleashed some of the anger he felt at how easily he had fallen into Wo Fat's trap. Other officers had broken it up quickly.

After that, Steve had been left alone for hours. He had expected to be taken into interrogation but no one ever came. He had even tried to request an attorney (and Danny thought he knew nothing about Miranda rights) but he had been ignored.

Now he was being transferred to Halawa? Steve knew something was very wrong. He hadn't been questioned. He hadn't been allowed an attorney. He shouldn't be transferred until after he had been given a bail hearing.

Standing just outside police headquarters, Steve took a deep breath and settled into SEAL mode. He knew that to clear his name, he needed to work within the system, but too many things about this situation didn't add up. Right now, he felt that to survive he needed to escape. The fact that his hands were cuffed behind his back was not the deterrent that HPD thought it was.

Just before Steve could make his move, Danny came running out another set of doors a little further down the building.

"What the hell is going on here?" the blond detective demanded.

Turner stepped forward to block Danny from reaching his partner, "This is none of your business, Williams. Go back inside."

"None of my business?" Danny shouted, arms pin wheeling, "Who authorized this transfer? There is nothing regulation about any of this!"

The crowd of other police officers who had followed Danny outside to see what was going on now looked at Turner for an explanation. Even the officers flanking Steve shifted uncomfortably. They knew something was going on.

"I have all the paperwork right here," Turner announced, waving the folder in his hand.

Duke stepped forward and took it, flipping through it carefully, "It's signed by the Chief. Everything's in order."

Turner smirked triumphantly and took the folder back. "Put the prisoner in the back of my car," he instructed the officers with Steve, brushing roughly past Danny.

There were three squad cars lined up in the street. Steve was pushed towards the lead car. He cursed silently. He had waited too long and now there were too many people around for him to escape. He looked over and met Danny's eyes, unable to shake the feeling that this would be the last time he would see his friend.

"No," Danny protested, stepping forward, "Did you do that to his eye?" he demanded of Turner, gesturing towards to Steve's face.

"And he did this to my lip," Turner pointed to his own face.

"I did," Steve confirmed, somewhat proudly.

Danny gave Steve a glare that clearly said it was not his turn to talk. "You shouldn't be transporting him. You've got three cars going. Put him in the middle one. That makes more sense anyway."

Turner looked like he wanted to argue, but his desire to get away from the crowd of onlookers was stronger, "Fine," he bit out, "put him in the middle car."

It wasn't much of a victory, but if the only thing Danny could do was keep Steve way from a bully who wanted to use him as a punching bag, then that was what Danny would do. He felt helpless as he watched Steve being loaded in the squad car for the trip to Halawa. He fully intended to race over to the prison himself to ensure that Steve was not put in with the general population.

Once Turner was satisfied that Steve was properly secured, he got into his own car, turned the ignition, and was engulfed in a huge orange fireball.

The force of the explosion knocked Danny back into the wall and momentarily took his breath away. Shaking his head to clear the spots from his vision, Danny quickly took stock of the scene before him.

The car with Turner and his partner was completely destroyed, much like Laura Hill's car had been. The force of the explosion had flipped the second car into the third and shoved them both back to where they now sat in a tangled heap of twisted metal.

Steve was somewhere in that twisted metal, Danny thought as he raced over to find his partner. The back window had been blown out of Steve's car and the former SEAL was hanging limply half in and half out of the vehicle. He was unconscious, his face covered in blood from several lacerations. With his hands cuffed behind him, there had been no way for Steve to protect his head.

Hand shaking, Danny pressed his fingers to Steve's neck, searching for a pulse. He found it, faint but steady. Steve's breathing was also steady. Giving him a visual once over as best he could, Danny didn't see any grotesquely twisted limbs or alarming pools of blood.

He could already hear ambulance sirens approaching. "Hang on, Steve," he pleaded. Beneath his fingers, Steve pulse was getting weaker and more erratic. "Please don't give up."

_If I could do scenes for the next chapter, you'd see Steve surrounded by frantic doctors; Kono being startled awake by someone off camera; Chin confronting the Chief of Police; Danny turning to Toast for help._


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews and alerts. I appreciate everyone who takes the time to read my stories._

_Disclaimer: Do I need to say that they aren't mine again?_

Danny hovered as close as he could while the paramedics worked on getting Steve stabilized enough for transport. Their biggest concern seemed to be that Steve may have knocked the back window out with his head. The fact that he was still completely unresponsive was a bad sign.

Danny was vaguely aware that other medics were working on injured police officers, but he blocked them all out. After everything that had happened, Steve could not die handcuffed in the back of a police car.

"He's ready to go," yelled one of the paramedics, a red haired woman named Piper (What did it say about Danny's life that he recognized all of the paramedics on the island?), "You riding with us, Danny?"

"Of course," he answered, already starting to climb into the ambulance.

The HPD Captain who had stopped him from going to help Chin earlier appeared, "McGarrett is still a prisoner. You need to wait until I can assign a guard to go with him."

"A guard!" Danny was livid, "He's barely alive!" He raised his right hand, "I solemnly swear that I will not let him escape. Now let's go."

Before the Captain could protest further, Piper slammed the back door in his face and signaled for her partner to go. Danny wanted to thank her, but he was afraid to take any of her attention away from Steve.

Steve's eyelids fluttered. A little bit of the tightness in Danny's chest relaxed as his partner appeared to be waking up.

"Commander, can you hear me?" Piper asked?

Steve opened his mouth like he was going to respond. Instead, his entire body began to twist in a series of convulsions. The violent movement caused various cuts to bleed heavily.

"Detective, I need you to try and hold him still," Piper instructed tensely, "Put your hands here on his shoulders." She began trying to staunch some of the blood loss.

The convulsions were less violent but still occurring when they arrived at the hospital a few minutes later. A swarm of medical professionals immediately descended on Steve and whisked him away.

Danny had done this part often enough in the past year that he knew the drill. He accepted the clipboard of forms with question or complaint. As he settled into an uncomfortable chair to complete them, he was actually happy to have something to keep his mind off the image of his friend laying limply on the stretch, covered in his own blood.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50_

Kono was awakened from her unplanned nap by the sound of the front door unlocking. Her eyes darted around frantically, but there was nowhere to hide in the living room. The couch was in full view of the front door.

The person on the other side of the door seemed to be fumbling with something and didn't swing the door open immediately. It gave Kono a second to imagine HPD finding her in a murder suspect's supposedly empty house. She'd be hauled back in for another round of questioning by IA. Being caught here was a stupid, stupid mistake.

Kono, who had been expecting an entire crime scene unit, was surprised when a single woman finally entered the house. She was petite but carried herself with an air of alertness. Her dark hair was pulled back in a messy bun. Her brown eyes were tired and worried.

Kono could not think of a good reason for a strange woman to be at Steve's house right now. She wished that she still had her gun. The other woman had dropped her large duffle bag and was going for the alarm panel when she saw Kono sitting like a statue on the couch.

Kono sprang to her feet and the stranger dropped into a defensive crouch. They eyed each other warily.

Kono realized that the other woman's wrinkled khaki clothing was actually a naval uniform. "Why do you have a key to Steve's house? Who are you?"

"I'm Lt. Catherine Rollins. Steve is my boyfriend. He gave me the key." She and Steve never used words like girlfriend and boyfriend but Cat decided it would give her the most credibility.

Kono's posture relaxed, "Kono Kalakaua," she introduced herself, "I'm part of the Five-0, or I was part of the Five-0."

She was trying to decide how to tell Catherine about the current situation when the Lieutenant surprised her, "Why don't you get us both some water while I take my bag upstairs. Then you can tell me about how Steve ended up in jail."

Thirty minutes later, Kono was just finishing up her story when there was a loud pounding on the front door, "HPD –Open up!"

Catherine calmly rose from the couch and straightened her uniform before opening the door, "How may I help you officers?"

Two men in HPD uniforms eyed her coldly, "This is supposed to be empty. Who are you and how did you get in here?"

"I live here with my boyfriend, Steve McGarrett. I've been assigned to a carrier group but I just arrived back at Pearl," Cat drew on her background as a naval officer to infuse her words with authority.

"What's she doing here?" One of the men gestured to Kono, apparently recognizing her.

"She's a friend of Commander McGarrett's. She was nice enough to meet me and help me settle back in," Catherine covered smoothly.

The taller officer gave them a suspicious look, "If you're so close to McGarrett, shouldn't you be at the hospital?"

Catherine's heart stopped, "Why would we be at the hospital?"

Kono snatched her cell phone out of her pocket and cursed when she realized the battery had died.

"McGarrett was being transferred to Halawa when the patrol car exploded," both women gasped, "Three officers were killed, four more were wounded. McGarrett's apparently in bad shape. He's at Queens."

Kono and Catherine rushed past the two men on the porch and ran to Cat's rental car.

She tossed the keys to Kono, "You drive. You can get us there faster."

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50_

Governor Patrick Page resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands and groan. There were too many people around for to show that kind of weakness.

Still, he hadn't even been in office a full day and three squad cars had exploded behind HPD headquarters. Why was someone trying to kill McGarrett? Even the Five-0's biggest critics couldn't spin this as an escape attempt. It was nothing short of an attempt on the man's life. And why the hell was McGarrett even in a squad car? Page had never been a cop, but it seemed like common sense that McGarrett should have been secured in a cell, not driving around the countryside.

This time, Page knew better than to wonder what Jameson would have done. She would have sent Five-0 to investigate. Page briefly considered calling Crosby but dismissed the idea. Crosby was at Five-0 headquarters meeting with his new taskforce for the first time. Page wanted them to concentrate on the drug case.

Instead, he picked up the phone and dialed Chief Mahaka's number. Mahaka's house was falling apart around him, Page expected in to personally put it in order if he wanted to keep his job.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50_

Danny was sharing a small private waiting room with two uniformed officers. They were there to keep McGarrett from escaping. It infuriated Danny that everyone seemed more concerned about punishing Steve than making sure he stayed alive.

Duke Lukela had picked these two, Samson and Ariyoshi, personally, knowing that they weren't hostile to the former Five-0 like many other officers were. So far, they had left Danny alone on one side of the room.

Shortly after Danny had finished filling out forms, Samson and Ariyoshi had approached him. At first, he had ignored them. The other injured officers had also been brought in and there were a number of cops waiting for news on friends. When they had identified themselves as the officers there to secure McGarrett, Danny had gotten a bit loud. That was when they had been escorted to the private waiting room.

A doctor had come in shortly after that to inform him that Steve had a severe concussion, possibly complicated by a skull fracture. There were also a number of minor injuries that were still being treating. He had lost a great deal of blood from his many cuts. They were still trying to remove all the glass and get the cuts stitched up. Steve was being taken for a CT scan and they would know more later. Then the doctor disappeared and Danny was left alone with his two shadows again.

Danny tried calling Kono but her phone went straight to voicemail. That was strange but he was too worried about Steve to give it much thought.

Next he called Chin, who answered immediately, "Danny how's Steve? You're at the hospital, aren't you?"

"Ya, I'm here. Steve's biggest injury seems to be a head injury. They're taking him for test now. He lost a lot of blood and he had some kind of seizure in the ambulance on the way here," Danny was impressed that his voice was so much calmer than he felt.

"I was at the crime lab when it happened," Chin told him, "Now I'm at HPD helping to process the scene here." Maybe Danny didn't sound as good as he thought he did because Chin paused and then asked, "Do you need me to come down there?"

"No, you'll do more good there than you will sitting here holding my hand. I tried Kono but got voicemail. I'll keep trying." A new thought occurred to him, "Damn it, I forgot to call Jenna. Do you think she's seen it on the news yet?"

There was a moment of awkward silence before Chin finally answered, "Jenna left. I talked to Kono this morning and she told me. Kono has all of the evidence Jenna was working on."

Danny was stunned, "She just . . ." he paused to collect himself and started again, "There's just nothing to say to that. You finish up there and I'll keep you up to date on Steve's condition." He ended the call.

Several more attempts to reach Kono all ended with voicemail. Danny assumed she was sleeping after the god awful night she'd had. Or maybe she was surfing to release tension. He paced a little to pass the time. He got some coffee from the cafeteria and pretended that he didn't notice that Ariyoishi happened to get coffee at the same time.

Settling back into his chair, Danny checked his watch. Two hours. How long did a CT take? He was done being patient. It was time to go find some answers.

When Danny headed for the door, Samson moved as if to block him.

"What?" Danny snapped, "You aren't here to guard _me_. Or do you think I'm about to help McGarrett made some daring escape? Maybe he'll make a parachute out of hospital gowns and jump off the roof?"

Samson wisely backed off.

Out in the hallway, Danny spotted a familiar nurse named Emily. She had been one of his nurses during his own most recent hospital stay.

"Excuse me, Emily," Danny gave her his most charming smile, "I was just wondering if there was any information yet on Commander McGarrett's condition?"

"We have four wounded police officers in our ER. When someone has time, they'll be in to give you an update." she gave him an artificial smile and hurried away.

Danny was about to find a doctor and make a more forceful request for information when the elevator doors opened. Kono rushed out, followed closely by a beautiful woman Danny didn't know.

"Did you try to call me? My phone's dead. I'm so sorry that I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know Steve had gotten hurt," Kono's eyes were damp like she was about to cry.

Danny started to tell her that it was okay, but the other woman pushed her way in between them, "Where's Steve. Is he okay?"

Danny frowned at here. There was something familiar about her voice but he had never met her before. Right now he had no more patience for more strangers with demands. He put his hands on her shoulders to physically move her aside.

Kono stopped him with a hand on his own shoulder, "Danny, this is Catherine Rollins. She helped us with the Missouri case, remember?"

"That's why your voice is familiar. I'm sorry. The last few days have been trying to say the least."

Ariyoshi cleared his throat apologetically from behind Danny, "There's a doctor with an update on McGarrett waiting to talk to you."

He was suddenly standing alone in the hallway as Danny led the two women back to the waiting room.

A serious looking doctor in a white lab coat was waiting for them, "Ah, there you are. I'm Doctor Neville."

"Is Steve going to be okay?" Danny asked, beating both women to the question.

"Commander McGarrett has a Grade III concussion. We feared a complicating skull fracture but the scans came back clean. He was awake for a little bit but extremely disoriented, which is normal with this type of injury. I would expect to see some memory loss but right now he's too disoriented to determine how much."

"But he'll be okay?" Kono pressed.

"He was in an explosion. Are there any other injuries?" Catherine questioned.

"What about the seizures?" Danny demanded.

Dr. Neville held up her hands to signal for quiet, "He should be fine. We've removed all the foreign objects, mostly glass, from his cuts and sutured up the lacerations that were deep enough to need it. We had to transfuse some blood to make up for what he lost but, once he did, his vitals all stabilized. We're going to keep him for at least 72 hours to monitor how the head injury is resolving itself."

Danny sighed in relief. He felt better with Steve in the hospital than in jail. They had 3 days to find the evidence they needed to keep Steve from going back into a cell.

"Can we see Steve?" Catherine asked.

"He's sleeping right now. Rest is the best thing for him. We can't give him a strong painkiller because of the concussion so he's going to be very, very sore. For the next 24 hours, I'll allow one visitor at time. Then we'll see how he's doing." Dr. Neville headed for the door, "A nurse will be in to get you as soon has Commander McGarrett is settled in his room."

"Do you mind if I see him first?" Catherine asked quietly.

"Of course not," Kono assured her.

"You two stay here and take turns sitting with Steve," Danny paused and lowered his voice, "I know that these two will be watching him, but I'm worried that whoever planted that bomb will try again. Kono I'd feel better if you stayed close."

Danny and Kono both regarded Catherine for a moment, both trying to figure out how to continue.

Catherine straightened her shoulders and met their eyes, "I know that you don't me but I am a trained naval officer. I'm trained in hand-to-hand combat. You can trust me to keep Steve safe."

Danny nodded, "You two stay here. I'm going to HPD to check in with Chin. We need to stop reacting and get in front of this somehow. And that's what we're going to do."

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50_

Pausing outside the hospital, Danny decided to make a stop before heading down the HDP. He took out his cell phone and pulled up a number from his contacts, "Hey Toast, its Williams. I need to stop by and show you something. Stay there and I'll see you in a few minutes."

_Teaser for the next chapter: Steve in a hospital gown, sneaking down a dark hospital hall. An angry Danny yelling at Catherine for keeping things from them._


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you to everyone who continues to read, review, and alert. I will be away on vacation all of next week so I may not post another chapter for 2 weeks. Or I may lay on the beach and write instead of read (the hotel has internet), who knows._

Chin slowly circled the burned out wreck of Sean Turner's police car. Max Bergman had long since departed with the pitiful remains of Turner and his partner, along with the officer driving the car Steve had been in. That rookie officer had been killed when a piece of the windshield glass had partially decapitated him. His partner was in critical condition but Chin had heard that he was expected to make it.

Chin sighed and moved to the wreckage of the other two cars, still twisted together like a horrific piece of modern art. It was somewhat miraculous that Steve had only the injuries he had, not something more serious. Chin suspected that the security screen that separated the front and back seats had done a lot to shield McGarrett from the deadlier debris.

It was time to wrap it up here. Chin had everything that he needed from the scene. A scattering of officers were hanging back, waiting for Chin to dismiss them. The shadows were growing long as the sun got ready to slip under the horizon.

"We're done here," Chin told his men.

Danny had been there earlier, but Chin had sent him to check on Fong's progress and see if there were any results from the gunpowder residue tests that had been ordered on Steve's gloves. They were supposed to meet up at the hospital shortly to compare notes.

Chin was curious to meet Lt. Rollins. He had always sort of thought Steve's girlfriend would be tall and athletic. The blond volleyball player type. From what Danny had said that was not the case.

Walking into his office (being a lieutenant entitled him to a cramped office about half the size of his Five-0 office), Chin was stunned to find the Chief of Police sitting behind his desk, waiting for him.

"Chief Mahaka, what can I do for you?" Chin straightened up, trying to keep the fatigue off his face.

The older man gave Chin a smile that didn't reach his eyes and gestured to the other chair in the office, "Please sit down, Lieutenant." He waited until Chin was seated, "I had a long talk with Governor Page this afternoon. He asked me a lot of questions about why McGarrett was in the squad car and how someone could try to kill him right under my nose. I didn't have any answers for him."

Chin remained silent when the Chief had finished talking. He had no idea where this conversation was going so he kept his expression impassive and waited.

Mahaka leaned forward, "I need to find those answers and I want you to do it for me."

"Why me? I've only been back with HPD for 2 days."

"Chin, I'm neither blind nor dumb. I know that there is corruption in this department. I also know that you've been on the outside for so long that you aren't part of that corruption. I also know that you are an excellent detective that can get this done."

Chin nodded, "I'll need Det. Williams back in the field, not sitting behind a desk." He considered the wisdom of his next request but decided to try anyway, "I would also be helpful to have Officer Kalakaua assisting me."

"Consider the restrictions on Det. Williams lifted effective immediately. I'm afraid that I can't help you with Officer Kalakaua. She's the subject of an IA investigation and will remain suspended until they clear her. Is there anything else you need?"

Chin knew that his next question could end his career with HPD forever, but he knew that he had to ask, "Sir, did you sign the orders to move McGarrett to Halawa?"

Mahaka frowned, "Of course not. McGarrett should have stayed here until after a bail hearing."

"Officer Turner had paperwork with your signature on it. Sgt. Lukela confirmed it." Chin watched Mahaka carefully, trying gage his reaction.

"I did not sign any such orders and I will go on record as part of your investigation stating that." Mahaka sighed, suddenly seeming much older than his years, "It seems that Turner was caught up in something too big for him. Another young officer lost to greed, and he took 2 other officers with him."

Mahaka rose to his feet, "The Governor has made it clear that he expects this to be cleared up ASAP. I trust that you can do that for me."

He started to leave but paused with his hand on the door knob. He seemed to be having an internal debate over whether or not to say more. Chin waited patiently, trying to project an air of calm.

Mahaka made his decision, "This is entirely off the record and I will not discuss it again. Do you understand?" He waited for Chin to nod, "Over the last several years, there have been a number of cases that Governor Jameson took a personal interest in. She had all the case files delivered to her office and had us inform Laura Hill immediately about all new developments. None of these cases were ever solved. The suspects always seemed to one step ahead of us," he allowed a moment to let the implications sink in," If you could connect information being leaked from Jameson's office, it would go a long way towards clearing McGarrett."

He left Chin sitting alone and suddenly very, very interested in the content of the shredded files they had recovered from the Palace.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50*_

Darren Crosby, former HPD Captain and new head of the Five-0 taskforce, sat alone in the well-appointed office that, until just yesterday, had belonged to Steven McGarrett.

Crosby had sent his newly selected team of five home to rest. They were all men. Crosby knew that there were some excellent, well-qualified women working for HPD, but years spent as a marine had conditioned him to feel better when a man had his back. He knew it wasn't necessarily right, and it made him thankful that he had no daughters, but he was putting this taskforce together to succeed the best way he knew how.

He had chosen four taskforce members because he intended to run his unit more like a proper law enforcement division. He'd have 2 sets of men and he would be their CO, not their partner.

Making one more mental review of his plans for the next day, Crosby was satisfied that everything was ready. He and his team would take down a major drug cartel. It was the perfect start for the new Five-0.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50*_

Steve woke up slowly. He remained perfectly still, as he had been trained, trying to get a sense of where he was – and why every single inch of his body hurt – before giving away his return to consciousness.

"It's okay for you to wake up, Sailor," a soft female voice told him, "In fact, I think we'll all feel a lot better when you do."

Steve's eyes snapped open. He thought that his hearing was playing tricks on him until he saw that Catherine really was curled up in the chair next to his bed.

"Cat, how did you get here?" his voice sounded awful, all soft and whispery.

She unfolded herself gracefully from her chair and offered him ice chips from a cup. Steve smiled at her gratefully, or at least he tried until he felt the pull of stitches in his cheek.

Seeing him wince, Catherine suddenly became very serious, "Steve, I'll get the nurse in just a minute but I have to talk to you first. I got here as soon as I heard that you had been arrested."

Steve reached for her hand, again feeling the pull of stitches, this time across his shoulder. He didn't let him stop him, taking her hand anyway, "How did you know about Jameson? Weren't you in the Middle East?"

"It's too complicated to go into right now. I need to know how much you trust Danny, Chin, and Kono. I know you call them your ohana, but this . . ."

A nurse entered the room, cutting her off, "Is he waking up? You should have hit the call button," she admonished, gently moving Catherine aside and taking her place beside the bed, "Commander, how are you feeling?"

"Dizzy," Steve groaned softly.

"How's your vision?"

"Blurry," Steve was becoming agitated, "Is Governor Jameson alright? Was she hurt when the car exploded?"

Catherine was confused and scared. Hadn't Steve known Jameson was dead just a few seconds ago? He seemed to be confusing the explosion that killed Hill with the explosion that injured him. How bad was his head injury?

The nurse glanced at Catherine before turning her attention back to the patient, "Commander, your girlfriend, Catherine, is here. Why don't you wait with her for a minute and I'll go page Dr. Neville. The doctor will be able to answer all of your questions."

Some of the panic Catherine was feeling must have shown on her face because the nurse took a minute to reassure her, "None of this is unusual with a severe concussion. I just need to get the doctor."

Alone with Steve again, Catherine hurried back to his side, "Steve, do you know how you were hurt?"

Before he could answer, several loud gunshots shattered the normally quiet hospital evening.

Years of training took over as Steve tried to leap out of bed and pull Catherine down to the floor for safety. All he succeeded in doing was pulling out his IV and stumbling against the side of the bed.

"Steve, be careful!" Catherine was torn between the desire to stay with Steve and the need to check the hallway for danger.

Steve gritted his teeth against a wave of nausea. It was humiliating to have to lean on Cat's petite frame to stay upright. "I was dizzy for a second. I'm fine now," he growled, trying to pull away from her.

The sounds of people running, mingled with the occasional scream, from the hallway made Catherine aware that Steve was a giant target standing in the middle of his hospital room.

"Come on, Sailor, let's get you into the bathroom." She slung one of Steve's arms across her shoulders and partially dragged him across the room. "Stay in here while I see what's happening."

"No, you're not going out there alone," he grabbed her arm, refusing to let go.

"This bathroom is the first place someone will look for you. I have to find us a safe way out." Seeing from the stubborn set of his face that Steve was not swayed by that argument, Cat tried a different track, "Kono should have been in here by now to check on you. I need to see if she needs help."

Steve responded to the suggestion that Kono might be in danger immediately. "Go find her. I'll be fine here."

Cat shook her head sadly. Steve was always too willing to sacrifice himself.

Before leaving, she grabbed the IV stand and pulled it into the bathroom, "This is the closest thing to a weapon in the room," she smiled at him, "Try not to need it."

Steve gave her a battered smile in return, "Be careful."

Catherine nodded and ducked out into the hallway.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50*_

Kono sighed silently and pointedly ignored Ariyoshi's fourth attempt to flirt with her. She moved a little further along the coffee island in the center of the floor's main waiting room under the pretext of inspecting every one of the flavored creamers. Ariyoshi followed, babbling away about his favorite surfing spots, trying to find something they had in common.

She ended up on the far side of the island, watching two orderlies pushing a large laundry bin down the hall. They were waiting for a patient to be moved into her room before they could continue on. Kono idly decided that the service elevators must be down that way.

The beefier of the two orderlies shifted impatiently, for just an instant revealing the outline of a gun beneath his scrubs.

"Gun!" Kono yelled. She tried to tackle the faux orderlies before he could draw his weapon, but Ariyoshi dragged her to the ground with him behind the coffee island.

"What are you doing?" Kono demanded, shaking off her would be rescuer, "They're obviously going after Steve!"

The two assassins had taken cover behind the nurses' station. Kono heard several gunshots and assumed they were trading fire with Samson, who had been further down the hall, outside Steve's door. She prayed that all of the bystanders had gotten out of the hall.

"Look," Ariyoshi pointed to the fire door in the back wall where the other people trapped in the waiting room were busy escaping, "We can get out that way while they're distracted."

Kono was appalled, "What about Steve? What about Samson? He's your partner."

"Samson can get out the other way. The hall's not a dead end. We were assigned to prevent McGarrett from escaping, not die shielding him." Ariyoshi grabbed her arm again and tried to pull Kono with him towards the door.

Kono smoothly slid behind him, snatching his gun from his holster with one hand and shoving him forward with the other. He sprawled on the floor for a moment before scrambling through the door to safety. As it shut behind him, he shot Kono a disgusted look.

"Guess I won't be surfing with him after all," Kono mumbled to herself before turning her attention back to the gunmen.

The hallway had become ominously silent. Kono wondered if Samson had been hit or, if like his partner, he had fled.

Assuming that they now had a clear path to McGarrett, the two armed men rushed out from behind the nurses' station. Kono fired and hit the smaller man, the shot knocking him to the ground behind the counter. Kono was unable to tell if he was incapacitated or mere lying in wait for her. The angle of the doorway cut off her view of the other man before she could get off a second shot.

Further down the hall, Catherine ducked out of Steve's room just in time to see one man take a bullet and go down while a second, bulkier man with a gun ran straight at her. He was clearly surprised by her sudden appearance and that surprise gave Cat the second that she needed. She went in fast and low, connecting a kick to his groin. When he instinctively dropped his gun to grab himself, she kicked the gun away. He recovered much faster than Catherine had anticipated, bellowing in rage and shoving her viciously into the wall.

Catherine knew she was in trouble. Her opponent was much larger and stronger than she was. Surprise had given her an advantage, but now he was too close and off balance. He had her pinned to the wall and was drawing back his other arm for a punch. She tried to brace herself as best she could and prayed she didn't black out.

"HEY – HPD – You are under arrest!" The shout was accompanied by the sight of Danny Williams, gun drawn, racing around the corner at the far end of the hall.

Danny cursed to himself, unable to fire because Kono had stepped out of a doorway at the other end of the hall. Super Navy Ninja SEAL would probably have made that shot but Danny refused to risk hitting his teammate.

Realizing that he was now trapped between Kono and Danny, the hit man dropped Catherine and took off running down the third branch of the t-section.

Danny looked at Kono, who nodded to indicate that she had things under control. Then he turned to Catherine, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she told him, pushing off from the wall and racing past him down the hallway after her fleeing attacker. Danny was only a step behind her.

Kono approached the nurses' station cautiously. Peering around the corner of the counter, she found the man she had shot lying motionless in a large pool of his own blood. She dropped down behind the counter to toss the man's gun away (just as a precaution) and check his pulse to confirm that he was dead.

From her position behind the counter, Kono could not see that there was another figure moving silently through the hallway.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50*_

A very frustrated pair returned to find Kono lingering in the doorway to Steve's room.

"He got away," Danny reported, "What about your guy?"

"Dead," Kono told him.

"Damn! We needed to find out who sent them," the Jersey detective looked like he wanted to put a fist through the wall.

Catherine noticed that something seemed off about Kono, "Is Steve alright? I think he may have torn some of his stitches."

Kono looked around to make sure that no one was within earshot. A handful of brave hospital personnel were checking on patients who had been trapped in their rooms during the gunfight. One HPD officer had responded so far but he was busy securing the body of the dead shooter.

Kono gestured for them to lean in, "Steve's gone. He's not in his room."

"I left him in the bathroom," Catherine told her, hoping against hope that Kono only meant that Steve wasn't in bed.

"I looked there," Kono's tone made it clear she didn't appreciate the implication that she might be that stupid, "Steve is gone."

"Wait, you left him in the bathroom? Then he was awake?" Danny's mind was racing, trying to wrap itself around the implications of Steve's absence.

"He was awake. Only . . ." Catherine paused to consider how to express her concerns, "Something wasn't right. When he woke up, and we were alone, he seemed pretty alert and aware of what was going on. When the nurse came in, he seemed really out of it and sick. Then after she left and the gunshots started, he seemed really alert again."

Danny had spent a lot of time with Steve in the past 6 months. He liked to fancy himself an expert on the convoluted and crazy pathways of McGarrett logic. Drawing on that knowledge, Danny had a terrible premonition of what had happened.

"Catherine, this is very important," he turned her so that she was looking him squarely in the eye, "Do you think Steve was taken out of this room, or do you think he left on his own?"

Catherine sighed. She had come to a similar conclusion but had been shying away from it, "I think he escaped."

Kono gasped, "Why would he do that? It only make him look guilty and it will be even harder to clear him."

Catherine pulled herself together first, "Danny you go find Steve and bring him back here. I'll take care of the police in the meantime."

"You'll 'take care' of the police?" Danny asked, "How are you going to do that?"

"We don't have time for this. He had to go down the hallway the same way you came up, or he would have gone right past one of us. He's hurt. I know he's at least somewhat dizzy and nauseous. He can't be moving that fast," Cat was practically pushing Danny down the hall, "You have to find him before he gets out of the hospital."

"Danny, you have to get out of here now," Kono hissed, adding her own shove, "Here comes HPD."

Giving into the fact that he was surrounded by lunatics (it must be Steve that attracted the rest of them) who dove headfirst into crazy plans, Danny made it around the corner just as several HPD officers approached Kono and Catherine.

"Thank God you're here! Two of them dragged Steve away . . ." Danny heard Catherine begin. She even sounded a little tearful. He was impressed.

It wasn't a bad plan: Claim Steve had been kidnapped and the Danny could bring him back, claiming to have saved him from the kidnappers. It was a fine plan, except for the part where they ALL LIED TO THE POLICE.

He wanted to pretend that life had been perfectly black and white before he had moved to Hawaii, but Danny couldn't deceive himself that way. He'd have done all this, and more, for any of his family back in New Jersey. Only his family in Jersey was _saner_ so he would never have to.

Danny stopped to consider the best way to find the wayward patient. Steve wouldn't have taken the elevator because he had no control over where it stopped or who got on. That meant the stairs and there was only one stairway at this end of the hall.

Pushing open the stairwell door, Danny had another thought: Steve, who was wearing a hospital gown, could not blend in well enough to get through the small army of HPD officers now in the lobby. Almost every member of HPD knew him on site. Plus, the multitude of bruises and cuts on his face would draw a lot of attention.

With all this in mind, Danny started up the stairs instead of down. It made sense. Find a change of clothes and then lay low, avoiding any searches, until it was quieter and Steve could sneak out of the building.

Danny had gone up 3 flights of stairs, and was beginning to doubt himself, when he finally spied what appeared to be a few spots of blood on the wall. He speculated that Steve had reached this landing when his injuries took their toll and he fell against the wall. Unable to face any more stairs, Steve had exited the stairwell here.

Danny opened the door to find himself on a floor of offices. At this time of night, it was completely deserted.

Perfect, Danny thought. He didn't see any more blood but that didn't surprise him. Even injured, Steve would not make more than one careless mistake.

Looking at a floor directory, Danny groaned as he counted 14 offices. Assuming each suite had multiple rooms, it would take far too long to search them all.

But why did he have to search? He was the back-up. He was Steve's partner. He was Steve's family. Steve didn't have any reason to hide from him.

"Steve, it's Danny," he called out softly as he walked slowly through the floor, "I'm alone. I'm here to help you."

He had repeated himself several times before he heard a door open behind him. Spinning around, Danny saw that the closed door he had just passed was no longer closed. Inside, he found Steve slumped over on the couch in a plush waiting room. His chin was down against his chest. For a heartbeat, Danny thought he was unconscious.

"I'm not going to jail for something I didn't do," Steve's voice was so hoarse he was almost whispering, "I take responsibility for my actions. When I do wrong, I accept the consequences, but I won't go to jail for something I didn't do."

Danny knelt down in front of Steve so that he could look the former SEAL in the eye. It hurt him just as much to see Steve so battered and broken as it had hurt him to watch Rachel and Grace board the plane that had first taken them to Hawaii.

"You are not going to jail for this," Danny promised, "You just need to give us time a little time to work things out. You have to trust your ohana to take care of you."

Steve finally lifted his head. Danny could see the protest in his eyes so he hurried on before Steve could speak.

"Catherine said you lying to the nurse about how badly you're hurt. For the first time ever, you were making yourself seem sicker instead of pretending you were fine. Was she right?"

A ghost of his usual smirk settled over Steve's face, "I figured it would be easier to escape from the hospital than the prison, so I was buying a little time."

"As one does in these sorts of situations," Danny snarked. Then he became serious again, "You've got 72 hours in the hospital. That gives us 3 days to clear you. If we can't, I will help you escape before they come to take you."

Steve was awed by Danny's loyalty, "You'd really do that, help me escape?"

"God help me, I would."

"Deal, but you won't have to help me. Just look the other way and I'll be gone. I don't want you involved."

"You don't want me involved?" Danny made a production of looking around the darkened waiting room, "Babe, I'm already involved up to my eyeballs. Now, let's get you back to your room."

Steve went very still, "They have to know I'm gone by now. I can't go back."

Having climbed back to his feet, Danny looked down at his usually taller partner, "Catherine may have led everyone to believe that you were kidnapped by additional bad guys. I," he pounded his fist against his chest, "have just rescued a navy SEAL."

"Please, I could easily overpower any kidnappers that you could take down single handedly take down," Steve scoffed.

"Then why don't you get up and walk back downstairs?" Danny taunted.

Steve tried, but in the end, he was too nauseous and weak to make it farther than the hall. He had torn open several of his stitches and the bleeding was becoming more severe.

Danny was secretly amazed that Steve had made it this far at all. That didn't stop him from using his phone to call in the kidnapping and rescue.

Medical personnel quickly arrived with a stretcher to take Steve back to his room.

_H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50** H50**H50**H50**H50*_

While the doctors examined Steve and re-stitched his various cuts, the rest of the team gathered in a small waiting room. At this time of night, they had it to themselves. Chin had arrived earlier and now joined Danny, Kono, and Catherine for an update on the day.

"I have to back and talk to IA again tomorrow about my part in tonight's shooting," Kono told them glumly.

"Don't worry too much about it," Chin reassured her, "The shooting was completely justified and Samson and Ariyoshi look so bad that no one will make a big deal out of it."

"I made a little headway on the financials but not much. I'll work on it again tomorrow," Danny reported, "I also took the fingerprint evidence to Toast. If those prints are digitalized, altered, or reproduced Toast should be able to show us how."

"Did the lab have anything?" Chin asked him.

"Shit, I almost forgot," Danny admitted, "They finished testing Steve's glove and shirt. There's no gunpowder residue on any of it. The DA had already left but I'll be bringing that to her attention tomorrow."

"That's huge for us," Kono exclaimed. "If Toast comes through on those fingers prints, we may be able to get the charges against Steve dropped."

"We're still a long way from proving Jameson was connected to Wo Fat," Chin cautioned, "Just getting the charges dropped isn't going to clear Steve's name and restore his reputation."

"Did you get anything from the car bomb?" Danny asked Chin.

"More fragments of the same kind of claymore that killed Laura Hills and Steve's mother. It looks like someone has a signature," Chin sighed, "Now we just need to connect that signature to someone." He also gave them a quick rundown of his conversation with the Chief of Police.

"That's wonderfully cryptic but not especially helpful," Danny observed.

Catherine had been silently observing. She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention, "I have something that might help." She reached under her shirt and pulled a very small flash drive out of her bra. "This was given to me by someone highly connected in the Intelligence Community. I don't know his name but he wanted me to use it to help Steve."

"That's how you got here so quickly and knew so much about what was going on," Kono realized.

"Why didn't you tell about this before?" Danny demanded, "What's on the drive?"

"I tried to read it on my laptop during my flight, but it's heavily encrypted. I'm not sure I can break it," Catherine admitted.

"Danny, tomorrow when you go see Toast, take Catherine and the flash drive with you," Chin instructed, "Breaking encryptions is more he specialty than finger prints."

"Fine," it was obvious that Danny was still not happy with Catherine, "Are there any other secrets you're keeping from us? I'm just asking because we have enough enemies right now."

Catherine turned on him, ready for a fight, "My concern is Steve. I don't know any of you. You're right, Steve has a lot of enemies trying to hurt him right now and I didn't know if I could trust you." Her tone softened, "But obviously, I can. So no, I don't have any more secrets."

"That's enough," Chin decided, "They're not going to let us see Steve again tonight so let's all go home and get some sleep. Tomorrow is soon enough for us to start finding out who our real enemies are."

_Teaser for the next chapter: A warehouse explodes (I assume there are not this many explosions in the real Hawaii) and Kono is confronted by a tearful, terrified young woman._


	6. Chapter 6

_We had 2 days of rain so I had crazy amounts of time to write. And then today I spent hours by the pool so its a good vacation._

_Thank you as always to everyone who is reading, alerting, and reviewing. I will respond to reviews but not until I get back. Enjoy._

Steve woke up to find sunlight streaming through the hospital window. He had to blink several times before his vision focused enough to identify Catherine as the figure sitting beside his bed. She immediately sprang up to adjust the blinds.

Once she had settled back in her chair, Steve reached for her hand, "I thought you went home to get some sleep."

"I did. It's after 8:00 now. I wanted to check on you." She didn't tell him that it was too strange staying at house alone. "Your breakfast will be here soon."

"Cat, seriously, how did you get back to Hawaii so fast?" Steve smiled a little sheepishly, "We really didn't get to talk last night."

"I've been transferred to Pearl. I have leave built up, so I'm taking it before I start my new posting." She tried to make is sound very matter of fact.

Steve was confused, "A posting at Pearl? I didn't thing they were doing any high level surveillance work at Pearl Harbor."

"I'm changing focus a little," Cat wasn't trying to be evasive but she didn't want to upset Steve. Not right now when so much was going on.

Steve was having none of it, "What did you do, Catherine?"

"I can't go into it right now. I was offered a chance to help you and I took it. Why? Don't you want me around all the time?" The question was intended as a joke but Catherine's lingering insecurities created and awkward pause instead.

She started babbling to fill up the silence, "I only told people that I was your girlfriend because it was simpler. I wasn't trying to trap you into anything. I know we've never talked . . ."

Steve tugged on her hand until she stopped talking. He was smiling at her, "Cat, I don't want you to jeopardize your career for me, but you are the most perfect girlfriend I could ever have."

Catherine smiled back at him, "Good. That's good." She could hear the breakfast cart in the hallway. "I'm going to sit here and make sure you eat your entire breakfast. Then, when Danny gets here, we're going to take a drive and talk to his friend, Toast. We're going to take care of things for you, Steve."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Danny had just pulled the camero into a parking spot in front of Queen's Medical Center when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen: Rachel.

He was smiling as he answered, "Did you and Gracie get to New Jersey okay?"

"We did, Danny. Your parents both send their love," Rachel paused for a moment, "It's all over the national news. Is there really any way you're going to be able to help Steve?"

Danny felt an instinctive surge of anger but he pushed it away. Rachel had a child – no, two children – to think about. She had a right to ask the question.

"Rachel, I know Steve is innocent. I 100% believe that we will prove it."

"Then you I know you will," Danny could picture her single sharp nod, "I have a piece of good news."

"Well are you going to tell me what it is, or should we play 20 questions?"

"As you know, since moving to Hawaii I've been doing freelance financial consulting. Well one of the companies I've done work for has offered me a Director level position."

Danny was flabbergasted, "They just called and offered you a job? How did they know you would be looking?"

"Sharon Allan, the company's CEO, has a son who goes to school with Grace," Rachel's tone turned wry, "Apparently, the gossip at the country club prompted her to call me. I may not like how it came about, but the offer is fantastic."

Danny heard the hint of doubt in her voice and knew what was causing it, "Was I really once young and stupid enough to be insecure about how much money you made?"

"I believe that you may have said that it was your job to provide for your girls."

"Well consider me older and wiser," Danny became more serious, "I'm very proud of you. If you want this job then take it."

Danny was almost to Steve's room, "I have to Rach. Can I talk to Gracie for a minute?"

"Your parents took her over to your sister's house for dinner. We'll try to call you later. I also wanted to let you know that my flight will be landing tomorrow evening at 7:00. Can you pick me up?"

"Things are so crazy right now I can't say for sure. I'll make sure someone is there," Danny smiled, "I can't wait to see you."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

As they drove to Toast's place, Danny tried to watch Catherine out of the corner of his eye. By the time he had reached Steve's room, the injured SEAL had finished breakfast and was fading fast. He may be been exaggerating the extent of his injuries but the concussion was still very real. They had left him to get some rest while they headed out.

Catherine was perfectly aware of Danny's scrutiny, even if he thought he was being subtle. "You want to ask me about Steve, don't you?"

Danny shrugged, "He doesn't talk about himself very much."

"I'll tell you what," Cat grinned mischievously, "Once this all blows over, we'll all go out. We'll eat, we'll drink, I'll answer questions – as long as Steve's there to defend himself."

"Deal," Danny agreed, pulling up to the run-down bungalow that Toast called home.

Catherine glanced around dubiously as they walked inside, "Steve told me about Toast over breakfast. I see that he was telling the truth."

The door was open so they entered without knocking. Toast was just emerging from the bathroom, Playboy in hand. Both Danny and Catherine immediately tried to forget that image.

"Jersey!" Toast greeted him. He looked Catherine over, "Much better than your last partner."

Danny clapped Toast on the shoulder and turned him towards his computer equipment, "Forget about her. She's McGarrett's girl."

Toast nodded sagely, "Those SEALS have wild groupies. Crazy wild."

Cat and Danny exchanged disturbed looks.

Danny tried to get him back on track, "What did you learn about those finger prints?"

"Jersey, I looked, but it's not my thing," Toast shrugged.

Catherine joined them by the computers, "I have a proposal for you."

Both men's heads snapped around to her.

"Not like that!" Cat barked at them. "I'll take the finger print evidence. In Naval Intelligence that is our thing. You see if you can break the encryption on this." She offered Toast the flash drive.

"Encryption? Is it military?" Toast's eyes were sparkling.

"Yes it is," Danny told him, "Toast, this is important. I'll swing by tomorrow to see what you've got. Remember, this is the kind of information you don't want people to know you have. Low profile – really low."

"Got it, Jersey. See you tomorrow." Toast was already turning on his computers.

Danny and Catherine settled back into the car.

"Can you really work on the finger prints?" he asked her before starting the car.

"I am part of Naval Intelligence. I meant it when I said this is our thing," her tone was sharp. Cat didn't like having her abilities questioned.

Danny made a placating gesture, "I was just wondering if you'll have trouble getting access to equipment since you're on leave and haven't officially reported for duty in Hawaii yet."

"It won't be a problem," she reassured him, "No one will question me if I want to stop by and check out the facilities. Besides, both Steve and I have a lot of friends on that base."

Danny let it go. He would have to trust she could do what she said. "Then you spend the rest of the day figuring out the finger print thing, and I'll keep wading through financial documents."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Kono walked out the main doors of HPD Headquarters and into the bright afternoon sunshine with her shoulders straight and her head held high. She refused to let any of the men or women inside see how battered she felt inside.

Once she had rounded the corner of the building, entering the parking lot, she let her posture collapse. She had just spent 4 hours being questioned about her role in the incident at the hospital last night. The experience had been grueling, but, ultimately, Kono had realized that Chin was right. Ariyoshi had important family members. They wanted him to be protected.

The story had been presented to Kono neatly wrapped up: Ariyoshi's first priority had been the innocent civilians trapped in the waiting room. He had given Kono his weapon to protect McGarrett while he had courageously escorted the civilians out, unarmed. It was unorthodox but he was being praised for it.

Part of Kono wanted to expose Ariyoshi for the fraud he was, but she knew to pick her battles. She let it go. Someday, she'd get another chance at Ariyoshi.

Kono was unlocking her Cruz when a young Hawaiian woman slipped out from between two SUV's.

"Officer Kalakaua?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes. Do I know you?" Kono pressed her back to the car and kept watch around her, wondering if the woman was some kind of diversion.

"I'm Kimee Turner. Sean Turner was my husband," her eyes filled with tears.

"I'm so sorry," Kono told her. She was sincerely sorry this woman had lost her husband, even if the man had been part of an attempt on Steve's life. "What can I do to help you?"

"No, you don't understand. I want to help you," Kimee was trembling and clutching Kono's arm. "Can we go somewhere and talk?"

An hour later, Kono, Kimee, and Chin were seated on a bench near Kamekona's shave ice stand. Kimee had been hesitant to talk to Chin but Kono convinced her it was okay.

"Kimee, I'm suspended. I really shouldn't be involved in this," Kono told the other woman.

"But that's why I came to you!" Kimee clung to Kono's hand.

Kono and Chin exchanged a look. If they wanted this woman to trust them, Kono was going to have to stay.

"Kono isn't going to leave," Chin assured Kimee, "What did you want to talk to her about?"

Kimee looked at Kono, who squeezed her had encouragingly, before she started, "It's about what happened to Commander McGarrett. Someone paid Sean $250,000. He was supposed to take McGarrett somewhere else, not the jail."

"Where was Sean taking him?" Chin asked.

"I don't know. He didn't say. There was supposed to be a diversion to separate the cars. That's all Sean told me."

Seeing the look that passed between Chin and Kono, Kimee hurried on, "Sean wasn't a bad man. I lost my job a few months ago. They're going to foreclose on the house. McGarrett's a criminal. Sean didn't know anyone would die."

Her comments about Steve evaporated Kono's sympathy, "Why are you telling us this? I'd think $250,000 would still come in handy."

Kimee shifted uncomfortably and looked at the ground. "The money's gone," she admitted, "It was transferred into our checking account yesterday, just before the prisoner transfer, and it was gone this morning."

Kono turned away in disgust. These people had been willing to deliver Steve to what would certainly have been his death.

Chin was no less angry, but he hid it behind his usual calm façade, "Kimee, we're going to need access to your bank accounts. Our best bet is to trace that money."

While Chin stepped away to make the arrangements, Kono turned back to Kimee, "Why did you come find me?"

"When Sean told me about the money, he talked about your family. About how your uncle took money for your auntie's kidney. And about how you took money, too. I knew you'd understand."

Over Kimee's shoulder, Kono saw Chin coming back with a pair of uniforms. Without another word, Kono walked away.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Darren Crosby surveyed the area surrounding the rundown warehouse from the back of a surveillance van. His men were all in position. Brian Jagger, Eric Inouye, Kayo Hosoi, and Doug Kidman would go in first with a full SWAT team for back-up.

Their informants had told them that a large shipment of meth would be leaving the warehouse this afternoon, bound for the mainland. Stopping that shipment would be the team's first win. Then they would use information from this bust to shut down a network of meth labs throughout the islands.

"Crosby, everyone's in position," Jagger's voice sounded in his earpiece, "Are we a go?"

"Move in," Crosby ordered. He noted the precise formation as the men moved forward. That was the last thing that went right for the next several hours.

Five-0 moved in expecting several armed guards, maybe as many as 8. They were supposed to take the warehouse quietly. By the time the boat arrived to pick-up the shipment, Crosby and his men would have replaced the real gang members. That way they would also arrest the men on the boat with a minimum of fuss.

Instead, the warehouse contained at least 20 heavily armed men. Bullets instantly filled the air. One of the SWAT vehicles exploded.

"Was that a rocket?" Crosby demanded.

"Yes, sir," Kidman confirmed, "I see a rocket launcher."

"We have a problem!" Inouye yelled, "This isn't a warehouse. It's a lab."

Crosby swore colorfully. Meth labs were dangerously unstable. "Pull back! Regroup and surround the building. We'll wait them out."

"Too late," Hosoi shouted, "Fire! Everyone get out of here!"

It was a few minutes later that the explosions began. Crosby swore some more and listened to the sirens as the fire trucks arrived.

He was joined in the van by his four men as the firemen extinguished the flames.

"Did everyone get out?" Crosby asked, dreading the answer.

"Yes," Jagger told him, "Nine officers are being treated for injuries. Most are minor but 2 men will need to be hospitalized overnight for observation."

Crosby let relief wash over him. HPD had taken too many losses yesterday in the car bomb, they didn't need any more.

"How many arrests did we make?" Crosby wanted to move on and get the people behind this.

"None," Kidman reported.

"None?" Crosby repeated, "We didn't arrest anyone?"

None of his men would meet his eyes. Crosby sighed, "How many bodies have we recovered?"

"None, the fire marshal is looking through the wreckage now but its slow going. A lot of dangerous chemicals are still there," Hosoi reported.

Crosby considered this piece of information. "They didn't run past us, so they had another way out of that warehouse. We need to find it. Let me know as soon as we have something."

The four men hurried out, eager to redeem themselves.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Chin stood next to Ben Kokua and watched Charlie Fong working with countless tiny strips of paper.

"Are you going to be able to do it?" Chin asked Fong.

Fong pushed the magnifying glasses to the top of his head and rolled his shoulders. "I am making progress. The pieces of one page tend to be together. It's just time consuming." He raised a hand to wave off Chin's reply, "I know why we don't have more people working on this. I'm just telling you that it's going to take awhile."

Chin nodded and clapped Fong on the shoulder to convey his appreciation.

"I've been looking over the finished pages," Ben offered, "its old case files. I'm not sure how they're connected."

"I think I might," Chin told him. He lowered his voice, "Has anyone been asking about this evidence, poking around?"

"No," Ben assured him, "and we lock it up tight last night. The safe lets Fong set his own combination. No one tampered with it."

"Thank you. You're doing a good job here." Chin started flipping through the completed pages, noting case numbers and the names of people involved in them.

Before he had gotten very far, his phone rang. Chin listened to dispatch inform him that all available officers were to report to the site of Five-0's warehouse raid. Apparently, the warehouse had exploded.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

At the site of the former warehouse, Chin surveyed a scene of destruction and chaos. The fire was out but the clean-up would be going on for quite some time.

Chin was surprised that no one from Five-0 was with the fire marshal. Steve would have staring over the man's shoulder while Danny did his best to stop the SEAL from pushing past the marshal. The current taskforce were all in the van.

Chin skirted the areas the fire crews were working on. They would find some kind of trap door. It was the only way the gang members could have gotten out. That didn't interest Chin. It wouldn't tell him anything useful.

Instead, he moved towards the less damaged parts of the warehouse. Uniformed officers were sifting rubble.

"Hey Lieutenant," one of the officers called, "I got something here."

Chin found the woman standing over the body of a large man. He was obviously dead but not burned. The fire hadn't reached this far but the explosions had brought the building down. Chin guessed that the smoke would be cause of death.

What caught his attention was that the corpse was wearing an orderly's uniform from Queen's Medical Center. It was impossible to be sure, but he matched the description given by the witnesses at the hospital.

"We're supposed to let Five-0 know if we find anything," the officer told Chin.

He nodded at her, "Go get them. I'll stay with the body and alert the morgue."

After she left, Chin quickly snapped a few pictures of the man's face. Then he called for the coroner's van.

Doug Kidman arrived soon after and Chin faded away into the background.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Danny threw himself into the empty chair next to Steve's bed with a loud sigh.

"Tough day?" Steve asked dryly.

"I'm going blind," Danny informed him. "I've spend four hours chasing numbers across spread sheets. It's so close but I can't quite make it connect."

"Think you will tomorrow?" Steve tried to make the question casual but Danny heard the tension in his voice.

"No," Danny admitted honestly, "It'll take me longer than that. Catherine, however, has made some break through with the finger prints. She sends her love, but she will be working late tonight."

"You're not an equal substitution," Steve informed him.

"You're taking shots at me? When I'm here to tell you that you'll be sleeping in your own bed tomorrow night?" Danny sat back to enjoy the play of emotions that crossed his partner's face.

"Don't tease me about this," Steve told him quietly.

"I'm not. Chin has arranged a meeting with the DA for tomorrow at 2:00. We don't have enough to implicate Wo Fat, or tie Jameson to him, but we can get the case against you dismissed." Danny leaned back in the chair, "So let's waste a few hours watching some TV and call it a night."

Steve was about to hit the power button on his remote when Danny sat upright suddenly.

"Hey Steve, there's something you should know before you see it on the news."

"What is it?" Steve seemed resigned to the fact that his life had become a series of bad news.

"Governor Page has appointed a new Five-0 taskforce," Danny watched carefully to gauge how Steve responded to this news.

Steve was quiet for a long moment before replying, "It's not surprising. Even if we take down Wo Fat, things aren't going to be what they were before. You, Chin, Kono – you'll all be cops. I don't know what I'll be."

Danny didn't know what to say to make things better so he tried to lighten the mood instead. "This new taskforce is nothing compared to us," he told Steve dismissively, "They blew up a warehouse today."

"To be fair, Danny, we've blown up our share of buildings," Steve pointed out.

"They also let all of the bad guys get away. Every single bad guy," Danny smirked.

"We _never_ did that," Steve's smirk matched his partners.

_Scenes from the upcoming chapter: Chin and Danny meet with the DA. Wo Fat meets with Governor Page._


	7. Chapter 7

_Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has read this story, alerted it, or reviewed it. I am beginning to catch up on replying to reviews now that I am home again._

Catherine woke-up to the sound of footsteps below her, on the first floor. She listened as someone moved very deliberately through the living room.

Catherine rolled silently out of bed, grabbing the gun (one of Steve's from his weapons locker) on the nightstand. She padded out into the hallway. Standing at the top of the stairs, she tracked the intruder as he moved towards the back of the house.

She moved soundlessly down the first several steps until she reached the beginning of the open railing. Taking a deep breath, she raced down the remaining stairs.

"Freeze or I will shoot –"Cat cut herself off abruptly, "Christ Danny! I could have shot you! What the hell are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I am bringing you breakfast," Danny's reply was indignant, "Most people would say 'Thank you, Danny, for the tasty malasadas.' Most people would not point a gun at the bringer of said malasadas."

"I'm sorry." Catherine laid the gun down on the coffee table, "Do you always let yourself in without knocking?"

"You going to live here with Steve?" Danny countered.

Catherine shrugged. Steve hadn't exactly asked her to move in but she wasn't going to explain that to Danny. "We're going to give it a try."

"Then get used to it."

She headed to the kitchen to make coffee, remembering too late that she was wearing only a pair of panties and one of Steve's 50 or so t-shirts. Screw it, she decided. Williams had shown up uninvited, the t-shirt came to her knees, and she _really_ needed coffee.

Danny followed her with the malasadas, "How did you make out with the finger prints?"

Catherine recognized Danny's attempt at a truce for what it was and decided to accept. "As you already know, dozens of Steve's prints were found all over Hills's house. HPD matched got a match on the print from Steve's naval intelligence file."

"Did you find out anything I _didn't_ already know?" Danny asked.

Cat gave him the same look that she used to keep rowdy navy sailors in line.

Danny raised his hands in mock surrender, "Sorry, please go on. I'll behave."

"The prints in Steve's file were taken more than 5 years ago when he first joined naval intelligence." Catherine poured two cups when the pot finished brewing, "Did Steve ever tell you about the President's trip to Israel?"

"No, I don't believe that we've ever discussed presidential travel," Danny took a malasada and offered the bag to Catherine.

"Well it classified," Cat smiled at Danny's expression. He had obviously heard that before. "Let's pretend that there was attempt on the president's life during the trip. Maybe while preventing that attempt, Steve's hands got a little cut-up."

Danny was so busy imagining Steve saving the president that it took a few minutes for him to realize what Catherine was saying, "Did the cuts alter his fingerprints?"

"Three of his fingers – right index, right middle, and left ring – all have small scars that now show up on his fingerprints. So guess what I found when I studied the fingerprints?" Catherine looked at Danny expectantly.

"Fingerprints without scars?" he guessed.

"No," Catherine took a minute to enjoy Danny's annoyed expression, "I didn't find scars because there are no prints from those three fingers."

"That's good enough," Danny shouted triumphantly, "What are the odds he would touch things over and over, leaving prints from every finger but those three?"

They toasted each other with their coffee mugs.

"I have everything in a file for you to take to the DA," Catherine gestured to a file on the dining room table.

"You want to come with me to see Toast?" Danny asked, finishing his masada.

"I didn't get finished until well after midnight. Then I came back here and crashed." She rinsed the coffee cups and left them in the sink, "I'd like to go see Steve. You can let me know what Toast says."

"Sounds good," Danny grabbed the folder and headed for the door, "If we spring Steve from the hospital and he finds dirty dishes in his sink, it'll put him right back there."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****_

Chin entered Max Bergman's lab and waited patiently until Max was ready to talk to him.

After a few minutes, Max appeared to notice him, "Ah, Lt. Chin. Congratulations, I heard about your promotion."

"Thank you, Max. Did you call me down here just to congratulate me?"

"Of course not. That would not be an efficient use of time for either of us." He moved towards a table with a covered body laid out on it. "This is the man you found at the warehouse yesterday. He died from smoke inhalation."

Chin nodded, "I thought as much. Were you able to ID him?"

Max smiled and brought up information on one of his computer screens, "His name is Duke Taro. He was 48 years old. He has a record, but you can look that up back at your office."

Chin waited. Max hadn't called him down here just for this. There was something more.

Max pulled back the sheet to reveal the cadaver's chest. There was a strange red 3 prong mark. Chin had seen a mark like that before.

"Is that a taser burn?"

Max smiled like Chin was a particularly gifted student, "I am impressed Lieutenant. I had never seen a 3 prong taser before. All tasers that I was familiar with have only 2 prongs."

"I've never seen a taser like that either," Chin told him, "But I have seen burns like that twice before. Once on McGarrett after his house was broken into. Then again on McGarrett after Jameson was shot."

Max nodded, "I would be very interested in learning more about this weapon."

"You and me both." Chin gave Max a speculative look, "Do Crosby and his men know about this burn?"

Max shrugged, "It is, of course, in my report. Captain Crosby declined to send anyone to listen to my report in person, so I sent it to him. I cannot say if he noted the taser burn."

"Well Max, I'm going to include this in my presentation to the DA this afternoon. They may ask you to verify this.

"I will be happy to assist Commander McGarrett," Max turned away, done with this conversation and already focusing on other work."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****_

Danny found Toast with a joint, watching cartoons, and groaned inwardly. He needed Toast sober enough to tell him about the flash drive.

"Hey Toast!" Danny snapped his fingers in front of the hackers face several times to get his attention.

"Jersey," Toast blinked several times to bring Danny into focus, "You're in my house."

"Yes I am," Danny agreed, taking the joint away while Toast was distracted, "Did you get anything from that flash drive I left yesterday?"

"The encryption was a bitch. It was high level military. I haven't hacked anything military in forever. 'Cause the stuff you learn – it's too hard to sell. You end up dealing with seriously bad people."

"So you couldn't break the encryption?" Danny guessed.

"I am extremely offended, Jersey. Of course I broke it. Now I'm celebrating with . . ." Toast stared at his empty hand, obviously trying to remember what he had done with his joint, "Jersey, did you see . . ."

"Toast, what was on the flash drive?"

"On, it's all right here," Toast handed the flash drive back to Danny. "It's not encrypted anymore."

Danny took a deep breath, knowing that patience was required for dealing with Toast, "What is right here? Toast, I need to know what is on this drive."

Toast gestured to an open laptop, "Help yourself. I broke the encryption, doesn't mean I understand what I found."

Danny pulled the joint out from behind Toast and gave it back to him. Once Toast was engrossed in his celebration again, Danny turned to the computer.

He inserted the flash drive and swore with great creativity as he watched the information flow across the screen. Spreadsheet after spreadsheet with dollars and Euros and several other currencies. At this rate, he was going to be blind before this case was over.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****_

"Governor, your limo is here."

Page nodded to his aid and finished with the paperwork in front of him. He was due at Pat Jameson's funeral. It wouldn't do to be late.

Outside, another aid opened the car door for him. Page nodded his thanks without really seeing the man as he climbed into the long black car.

"We don't have much time. The ride to the church is not very long."

Page whipped his head around in shock. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the car. Once they did, Page saw a well-dressed, handsome Chinese man sitting near the front of the car. The privacy shield that separated them from the driver was in place. They were effectively alone.

"Who are you?" Page demanded, "How did you get into my car?"

The man smiled calmly, "My name is Wo Fat. I was an associate of the late Governor Jameson's. Our relationship was extremely beneficial to us both."

"My God," Page whispered, "McGarrett was working for you."

Wo Fat gave a brief but genuine laugh, "It is tempting to let you believe that, but you would find out differently this afternoon when the District Attorney drops the charges against McGarrett."

Wo Fat waved his hand dismissively, "I'll deal with McGarrett soon enough. Right now, I'd like to discuss the two of us."

"Unless you're turning yourself in, we have nothing to discuss," Page inched his hand towards the panic button on his cell phone. He cursed himself for being so defenseless. Protocol be damned, from now on he was carrying a gun.

Wo Fat smiled again. Page got the feeling that this whole conversation greatly entertained him. "Your phone and its alarm will do you no good. No signal can transmit out of this car."

Page considered the distance between himself and the other man. He was tempted to launch himself at Wo Fat, but they were too far apart and the crime boss could easily be armed.

"What do you want?" Page bit out.

"I was hoping that you would consider entering into the same agreements with me that Jameson did. I assure you that you will find our business more lucrative than you can imagine."

"Not interested," Page hated being this vulnerable.

"You may want to reconsider." The limo came to a stop and Page heard the door unlock. "My first warning was relatively painless. Next time, it will be . . . bloodier."

The door opened and the chauffer gestured for Page to climb out of the car. He was at the rear of the church instead of the front.

"Sorry, sir. There seems to have been a mistake. We're at the wrong door." The chauffer climbed back into the car and pulled away.

Page pulled out his phone, dialing Crosby as he walked around the building. When he heard the call connect, he didn't give his taskforce leader the chance to speak, "Be in my office after the funeral."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****_

District Attorney Renee Viloria sat back in her chair and studied the two men sitting on the other side of her desk. "Gentlemen, tell me why I should drop the charges against Steven McGarrett when he was found with the murder weapon – his own gun – standing over the murdered Governor."

"McGarrett wasn't the person who fired that gun that night," Chin pulled several sheets of paper from the folders he and Danny had brought with them, "These are lab results from test that were run on both McGarrett's gloves and his hands. They found no gun powder residue."

The D.A. accepted the report, glancing at it before she turned her attention back to her visitors, "Why did McGarrett tear Hills's house apart if he didn't kill her?"

"Why are those two things necessarily connected?" Danny wanted to know. "Not that it matters," he added hastily, "because the fingerprints were planted." He passed more reports to Viloria as he explained what Catherine had told him that morning.

"These tests were run by Navy Intelligence," she noted.

Danny had been expecting that, "HPD is running independent tests of their own right now. They obtained new finger prints from McGarrett today to compare."

"I'll take these as fact for now, pending our verification." Viloria looked at Danny with a raised eyebrow, "Didn't you just point out that the break-in and the car bomb don't have to be related?"

Chin pulled out yet more reports, "Laura Hills's care was blown up with a claymore that was jury-rigged into a car bomb. The same kind of car bomb was used in 1993 to kill Jack McGarrett's wife. That same kind of car bomb was used again 2 days ago to blow-up a car at HPD, killing 3 police officers."

"And you believe that all three of the bombs are connected?" the D.A. asked.

"Claymore's aren't very common," Danny pointed out, "Three bombs like that here in Hawaii, that's not a coincidence."

"We have a lead on the bomb at HPD," Chin added, "There is a witness that confirms that Sean Turner was paid to deliver McGarrett somewhere other than the prison. It was obviously a ruse but we may be able to track the money."

"Well McGarrett certainly didn't kill his own mother back in '93," Viloria agreed, "And I also don't think 3 claymore car bombs are a coincidence."

Viloria made sure to meet each man's eyes, "I don't believe that McGarrett was involved in Laura Hills's murder. The only evidence against him in that case were the fingerprints, and I'll accept that those were faked."

Danny's heart was pounding, "What about the charges stemming from the Jameson's murder?"

"The lack of gun powder residue does make it difficult to explain how he can be the shooter, but," she raised both hands to cut off Danny's triumphant smile, "in this case, McGarrett had motive and was found at the crime scene. Give me another alternative, gentlemen."

Chin laid several photographs on the desk, "This is the taser burn found on McGarrett when he was arrested at the Governor's office. We feel that there was a third person in the room. That person tasered McGarrett, took his weapon, shot the Governor, and left the building before the police arrived."

"We have a lead on the taser," Danny told her, "The burn pattern is very distinctive. We have a dead gang member in the morgue with that same burn pattern. We're hoping to follow that lead back to the taser."

Viloria nodded, "Fine. Right now there's no way my office can make a case in court against McGarrett. We're dropping all charges. He'll be free to go – for now."

Just as Danny and Chin were about to leave the office, the D.A. added, "Remember, just because McGarrett is no longer facing charges, he still has no standing as a member of the law enforcement community. He is **NOT** part of this investigation."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****_

After the meeting with the D.A., Chin left to update the Chief of Police on the investigation. Danny went immediately to the hospital to tell Steve the good news. He found Catherine reading a magazine while Steve napped.

"How'd it go?" she asked quietly when she looked up and saw Danny in the doorway.

The beaming smile on his face gave away the answer even before Danny announced, "All charges dropped. Steve is free to go."

"Good," Steve replied from the bed, "Let's get out of here."

"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" Danny demanded as both he and Catherine rushed to stop Steve from pulling out the IV and getting out of bed.

"Free to go means the D.A. is dropping the charges. The doctor has to release you from the hospital," Danny hadn't missed the way Steve winced as his many cuts and bruises made themselves known.

"Then get the doctor so I can get out of here," Steve instructed.

Catherine tried to reason with him, "You were making them think the concussion was worse than it really is, you're not going to be able to get them to release you early."

"I'll sign myself out AMA," Steve reasoned, "Since I'm not really as injured as they think, it won't really be a problem."

Danny sighed loudly. Steve looked pleased with himself.

"What if Wo Fat tries to kill you again?" Catherine asked.

"We'll be ready for him," Steve said with absolute certainty.

"Not tonight we won't," Danny told him. Steve tried to protest but Danny cut him off, "I have to go pick Rachel up at the airport and get her settled at my apartment tonight."

Danny couldn't figure out why Steve looked confused until he realized that, in the craziness of the last three days, he hadn't been able to tell his best friend anything about the developments between himself and Rachel.

"Rachel and Stan are over. She took Grace back to New Jersey to stay with my parents for a couple of weeks," Danny decided that his was not the time, or the place, to mention that he had planned to leave for New Jersey, too.

"That's smart," Steve agreed, "It would probably be safer for Rachel to stay there with her."

Catherine saw the thoughtful look Steve threw her way. "Don't even think about it," she warned him, "I'm not going anywhere."

Danny smiled, "That's Rachel's attitude, too. Plus, she's already landed a fantastic job as Director of Finance with a company here in Honolulu."

"Good for her." Steve felt a tightness he had refused to acknowledge loosen in his chest. If Rachel and Stan divorced, Steve hadn't thought there was any reason for Danny to stay in Hawaii.

"Since I'm sharing good news, I should probably also tell you that Rachel's pregnant," he said it quietly because there was a part of him that would never be entirely comfortable with the way things had worked out.

Steve gave him a hard look but decided not to ask any questions. "Congratulations! Grace will love being a big sister."

"That's wonderful," Catherine added, hugging him. Steve clasped his hand.

"Wait a minute," Steve had a thought, "You aren't going to make a pregnant Rachel live in your condemned, shoe box sized apartment?"

"Well not for long," Danny answered indignantly, "but I'm a little busy right now to go house hunting."

"Stay at my place for a few days," Steve invited, "Mary's old room has a full sized bed. It's better than your sofa pull-out."

Danny looked over at Catherine, wondering how she would feel about house guests. Steve saw the look and swore silently. He wasn't used to the idea that it wasn't just his space anymore.

Catherine wanted to say something but she had no idea what.

Steve rescued her from her embarrassment, "I'm sorry, Cat. Is it alright with you?"

"Of course it is," she answered sincerely.

"Then its settled. Danny, you pick-up Rachel and take her to my house. Cat will stay and make sure I'm a good little patient. Tomorrow, I'll get out of here and we'll find Wo Fat."

Danny sighed again. There were a lot of things wrong with that order. He hadn't actually agreed to stay at Steve's. He also hadn't told him what the D.A. had said about his future involvement in the case. Still, the SEAL had agreed to another night in the hospital. Danny would take victories where he could get them.

**TEASER: Chin finds more claymores. Governor Page offers Steve witness protection. Wo Fat's next strike against the new Governor is indeed bloodier.**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has read, alerted and reviewed. I tried to reply to many of the reviews but I've fallen very behind. I really do appreciate everyone who takes the time to write them._**

Steve took a deep breath and enjoyed standing in his own living room. If maybe he was also waiting for the dizziness to pass, Cat and Kono didn't need to know that.

"Seems like it's been a long time since you left, huh boss?" Kono asked.

"Yes it does," he agreed. "Did Rachel start her new job already?"

"No, Stan's on the big island today," Kono explained, "He told her that she could go over to the house and pack up her things and all of Grace's stuff. She just has to be done before he gets back. I think she and Danny rented a storage unit."

Catherine emerged from the kitchen, where she had been setting out Steve's various prescriptions. "Hey Sailor, who don't you sit down before you fall down." She hadn't missed the stiffness in his movements, or the way he jerked as his stitches rubbed against his clothing. "Maybe you should go upstairs and lie down?"

"No," Steve was adamant, "I've been in bed for days. I want to sit outside on the lanai."

He took a few steps towards the backdoor before stopping to glare at the two women hovering around him, "Back off!"

Both women grinned sheepishly, peeling off to give him some space. Kono went to double check the house's security system, plus a few other little surprises she had set-up on the property.

Catherine headed back into the kitchen to put together a light lunch.

Steve settled gingerly into one of the lounge chairs, slowly relaxing in the sunshine and ocean breeze. A few minutes later, he was asleep.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Charlie Fong and Ben Kukua were both staring at Chin expectantly. Danny thought they looked like puppies waiting for praise for demonstrating an exceptional trick.

Chin looked up from the sheets of paper spread across the table in front of him, "Danny, these are the serial numbers for the money from the HPD forfeiture locker."

"And that's making these two act like grinning idiots because . . ." Danny prompted.

"There are two sets of numbers," Charlie burst out.

Now Danny and Chin were also grinning like idiots.

"It was the Governor's office that supplied the serial numbers that implicated Kono," Danny realized.

"Exactly," Chin agreed, "They'll have to close the investigation against her."

Chin made some phone calls to set up the necessary meetings with IA, while Danny worked with Fong to put together their presentation for the investigators. After he finished the calls, Chin waited with Ben while Danny and Fong finished up.

"You've done a good job here," Chin praised him.

"Thank you, sir." The younger officer took a moment to gather his courage, "I hope this isn't appropriate. I was hoping that you would ask for me to be assigned to your unit. I'd like to work for you, sir."

Chin was taken by surprise. He had been so focused on clearing Steve and Kono that he never thought beyond that goal. His first instinct was to tell Kukua that Five-0 was a closed unit, but he stopped. Chin didn't know what would happen beyond this case.

He settled for a general evasion, "I appreciate that. I would be honored to work with you."

Ben seemed satisfied. Danny, on the other hand, had finished with Fong and was giving Chin a hard stare. Chin looked away, unable to look his friend in the eye. He wanted things to be like they were before, but Chin was a realist.

"If you're ready, let's get going. We need to get to our meeting with Gage," Chin walked out without waiting to see if Danny was behind him.

Danny followed more slowly. His divorce, Gracie moving to Hawaii, Mattie fleeing – Danny knew that life didn't always turn out the way he wanted it to. That didn't mean he wasn't unfairly angry at Chin for the alternatives.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Steve leaned back in his chair and watched Catherine napping in the early afternoon sun. He felt like crushing weight had been lifted from his chest. It had been almost an hour earlier that Chin had called to tell them that Kono had been reinstated.

She had to leave immediately to join Chin and Danny on a raid of Duke Taro's house. HPD had located an address for the now deceased gang member. Hopefully, they would find some evidence leading back to the person who had sent Taro to kill Steve at the hospital.

Kono had been worried that she was leaving Steve vulnerable to another attack. He wasn't worried. The effects of the concussion were truly almost gone. The various cuts, bruises, and stitches were nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Plus, he knew that Catherine could handle herself in a bad situation. If someone wanted to start something, Steve was confident they could finish it.

Still, it was a little unnerving when that thought was immediately followed by the sound of vehicles in the driveway.

Steve leaped out of his chair faster than he should have and ha to take a moment to let some of the lingering dizziness pass. The motion woke Catherine, who also heard the car engines and was instantly on her feet.

They exchanged a look before heading silently into the house. Cat took a second to arm the alarm from the panel by the backdoor, while Steve peered cautiously through the front curtains, trying to see their uninvited guests.

He recognized the man standing in his driveway from the news reports he watched in the hospital. Catherine started at him with concern when he swore rather creatively.

"Governor Page," Steve reported.

"What? Here?" Catherine asked, trying to understand what was going on even as Steve moved to answer the knock on the front door.

Steve yanked the door open and glared the members of the Governor's security staff. Several of them had been part of Jameson's security detail. The suspicion that filled the air was palpable.

Catherine raced back to the beeping alarm panel to disarm it before the system brought a bunch of police officers to complete the tableaux at the front door.

Patrick Page stepped past his men, "Mr. McGarrett, it's good to see you back on your feet. In light of your recent injuries, I felt that it would be better if we met here, instead of making you come down to my office."

"I didn't realize we were meeting," Steve held his ground in the doorway for a beet before standing aside so that Page could enter the house.

Page's staff didn't attempt to follow him inside. Instead, they spread out to pre-arranged positions on the front porch. Steve noted how carefully Page was choreographing everything about this encounter.

The Governor paused, clearly expecting McGarrett to offer him a seat. Steve had very little use for social nicety. He stayed just inside the front door, keeping Page fixed with what Danny referred to as his thousand yard death glare.

Page nodded at him, "Fine. I appreciate a man who doesn't waste time. First, I'd like to offer you an apology. A police station and a hospital are two of the places where you should be safest and we were unable to provide that safety." He paused for a breath, allowing Steve time to respond, but Steve stayed silent so Page continued, "I met with the District Attorney this morning. You were clearly on the right track with your investigation of Jameson. Which brings me to the second reason for my visit – Mr. McGarrett, after consulting with Captain Crosby, the head of my special taskforce on crime, we've concluded that to ensure your safety we're going to arrange a place for you in the witness protection program until this investigation can be completed. Captain Crosby wanted to be here himself to explain all the details but his taskforce got a lead on a very important case. After the service you have given to your country, this is the least we can do for you."

Steve stalked forward until he and Page were face-to-face. "First, I continue to service my country. I am still an active member of the naval reserves. As a former military man yourself, I think you can understand that I have earned the right to be addressed by my rank – Lieutenant Commander."

"You are absolutely right, Lt. Commander. I apologize again," Page seemed sincere, as if he were truly concerned for Steve's well being.

"Do you apologize for the rest of that bullshit, too?" Steve asked. "You're not concerned about my safety. That's what you're worried about," Steve gestured to the morning newspaper Danny had left laying on the coffee table.

The front page was split between only two stores. The top of the page screamed: NEW FIVE-0 BOMBS IN DEBUT. It was accompanied by a photo of the burning warehouse. The bottom half of the page shouted: MCGARRETT FREED FROM FALSE CHARGES. Under the headline was a photo of a very handsome Lt. Commander wearing his dress uniform at a formal dinner several months before at the Governor's mansion.

Page's eyes flashed angrily before he controlled his temper, "McGarrett, you will not be part of this investigation. I respect everything you have done for the navy, the United States, and the state of Hawaii, but if I catch you anywhere near the investigation of Jameson's murder, I will throw you back in jail."

"I'll keep that in mind," Steve assured him.

The two men stared hard at each other, neither wanting to stand down first.

Catherine had been watching the confrontation from the sidelines, waiting to see how it would play out. She stepped forward to remind the men that she was still there.

"Governor Page, we appreciate the offer and Steve will give it all the consideration that it merits." She flashed her boyfriend a warning glare to keep him quiet, "If he wants to take you up on it, we'll let you know." She pointedly opened the front door.

Page gave them both a last, considering look before he left.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Danny pulled the Camero up to the curb behind a red Cruz. Kono and Chin go out of the Chevy when they saw him.

"This is Duke Taro's house?" Danny asked.

"HPD seems to be having trouble finding anything on Taro, but our friend Kamekona was able to get us this address," Chin confirmed. "Taro didn't own this house but he was supposedly staying here."

"Whose house is it? Do we have a warrant?" Danny felt a tinge he asked the question. Damn, he missed Steve.

Maybe Chin and Kono felt the same way because no one said anything for a minute.

"The warrant's right here," Chin finally told him. "We were able to get it because Taro is tied to the utilities."

"He hid out in someone else's house, but he put the utilities in his own name?" Danny was incredulous, "He was smart enough to build car bombs?"

Kono laughed, "Nope, utilities are in the home owner's name, but our guy was making the payments – from his personal checking account."

"Still pretty dumb," Danny mumbled. He looked up and down the quiet street, "HPD sending any uniforms? This is the guy that blew up 3 of their officers."

Kono and Chin exchanged uncomfortable looks. Kono somehow came out the loser because she was the one who told Danny, "Five-0 pulled all available HDP for some drug raid." She grinned slyly, "I think they're trying to make up for the flaming meth lab."

Danny wondered if this was what happened to HPD detectives when they had been Five-0. He quickly dismissed that thought. McGarrett had never called the entire department in as back-up.

"Let's do this," Danny decided, "Kono watch the backdoor in case anyone decides to run. Chin, we'll go in the front."

It wasn't until Danny did a visual check of his teammates' readiness and saw the HPD badges that he realized his mistake, "Damn it! I'm sorry Chin. You're in charge here. How do you want us to do this?"

Chin waved the apology off, "No problem, Brah. It's been a rough couple of days. The plan sounds good – let's go."

Kono loped off around the corner of the house, ducking low to avoid windows. The guys waited a few minutes for her to get into position before they approached the front door.

Chin pounded on the front door, "Police Officers! Open up!"

The house was supposedly empty so it was hardly surprising when no one answered. Danny tried the knob and found it locked. They exchanged a quick look and few hand gestures. Chin kicked the door in and the two men moved swiftly through the house, guns drawn.

The house was small, just a kitchen, bedroom, living room, and bathroom all sitting on a concrete slab. It was almost immediately apparent that no one was there. The staleness of the air told the two seasoned detectives that no one had been there recently.

Danny holstered his weapon and threw up his hands in frustration, "Look at this place! The guy had a couch, a TV, a table, and a bed. There's no computer, not even any mail to go through. At most we'll get bomb residue off the remote – if he forgot to wash his hands."

Chin had opened the backdoor to let Kono in. She glanced around and agreed with Danny's assessment. "Kinda makes sense," she reasoned, "Bombs go boom. You wouldn't want to store them under your bed."

Danny went to check under the bed anyway. He found plastic storage boxes with clothing in them but nothing else.

Kono followed him into the bedroom, "Are you going to go through all his pockets?"

Danny glared at her, "Where did Chin go?"

Kono shrugged nonchalantly, "I think he's checking the big garage at the back of the property." She flashed a smiled at Danny, "That is the kind of place I might store explosives."

Danny gave her his best disappointed father look as he rushed past her towards the backdoor, inwardly mourning the fact that it had no effect.

Chin was peering into the dark depths of the garage. Heavy curtains covered the structure's two windows, blocking out most of the bright afternoon sun. Chin gave his eyes a minute to adjust.

Once he could see, Chin's heart started to race. The garage was dominated by a large workbench that currently held several claymore's in various stages of disassembly. This was the evidence they needed to tie Hills's murder, Jameson's murder, and the attempts to murder Steve all to the same people.

From behind Chin, Danny let out a low whistle, "Now this is what I'm talking about."

Kono slipped past them and began carefully checking the windows for any traps before pulling open the curtains.

"We've got his laptop," Chin exclaimed almost gleefully, pointing to a second, smaller work space. After taking a few photos of the table, Chin carefully placed the computer, along with the flash drives that were next to it, in an evidence bag.

Kono was already on the phone with the bomb squad, while Danny thoughtfully poked at a few personal items.

"Hey, take a look at this," Danny pointed to a framed photo. It showed Taro with an older Japanese man. They were in a field somewhere, surrounded by small craters. "Is that Hiro Noshimuri's brother, Koji?"

Chin studied the photo, "I think you're right. It makes sense. They both used the same type of car bombs."

"Bomb squads on their way to collect the explosives, but they might take some time because of the raid," Kono announced, "As soon as they give the all clear, a crime scene unit can start going over the place."

"Kono, you stay here an make sure everything gets processed by the book," Chin instructed.

"And nothing gets missed," Danny added darkly.

"I'm on it," Kono assured them.

Chin hefted the bag with the computer, "I'm going to take this in and see what I can get from it." He looked at Danny thoughtfully, "Why don't you check out Crosby's little party. Don't get involved – just take a look."

"Because it's not a coincidence that Taro was on Wo Fat's payroll and then ended up dead in that warehouse?" Danny suggested.

"Do you think the meth dealers are a rival group?" Kono asked.

Danny shook his head, "I think it's more likely they all work for Wo Fat and what happened to Taro was some kind of punishment for failing to kill Steve."

"Maybe he wasn't even supposed to die," Chin added, "That might have been an accident when the fire broke out."

The sound of sirens signaled the arrival of the bomb squad. The three friends separated to complete their assignments.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Danny arrived at the marina where Five-0 was conducting their sting to find chaos. The blond detective flagged down Officer Ben Kurua, "What's going on?"

Kurua's eyes widened with shock, "You don't know?"

"Just got here," Danny worked hard to hold onto his patience.

"Crosby found the tunnel out of the warehouse that everyone escaped through. While they were following it, Five-0 found some kind of lead that told them that the big yacht over there belonged to the head of the cartel."

"Trap," it came out before Danny could censor himself.

Ben was nodding, "It was a trap. Five-0 went in first because Crosby's blaming HPD for the way things went down at the warehouse."

Danny knew that he HAD to stop comparing the new Five-0 their team, but Steve would never blame HPD for his own mistakes. He turned his attention back to Kurua's story.

". . . the floor was rigged. It gave way under them, they fell like 2 decks and the power cut out."

"My God!" Danny exclaimed, "Was anyone hurt?"

"Well when the power cut out and we lost contact with the Five-0, SWAT rushed in. There were a couple shots fired but that may have been us. It was really chaotic for a while. Once everything go sorted out, we realized Doug Kidman was gone. We-"

Danny cut him off, "What do you mean gone? Did he get tired and go home? Were any of the cartel on the boat?"

Kurua shrugged, "There's no evidence that there was anyone onboard but us. It's being treated as a kidnapping but we don't know how it happened."

Danny eyed the area critically. The only way off the boat without being seen was underwater. Someone had apparently thought of that because there were divers in the water.

Once you're in the water, then what? Danny wondered. There were cops everywhere. Maybe it was better to lie low.

"Have you checked the other boats?" he asked.

"We can't, they're private property and we don't have any reason to believe Kidman is on any of them," he gave Danny a strange look, like he should know that.

"No reason!" You have a missing police officer! You do whatever you have to! You find him!" Danny's shouting and hand waving would probably have attracted attention if even louder shouting from the other side of the marina had not drawn everyone away.

Danny edged towards the crowd, more mindful than he had been a few minutes earlier about drawing attention to himself. He sighed. There was no way he was going to be able to see over the mob of police officers.

Behind him, the coroner's van arrived.

"Hello, Detective Williams," Max greeted him as the small Asian man climbed out of the van. He went around to the backdoor and began gathering his gear.

"Hi, Max. What brings you here?" Danny suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Max only paused for a moment. It was, of course, highly unprofessional to gossip. On the other hand, Detective Williams and the rest of his team had always been nicer to him than the other police officers had.

"I believe that Detective Kidman's body was found on a boat at the other end of the marina. One of the divers noticed blood smeared on the far side of the vessel from the water." Max lowered his voice even more, making Danny lean in to hear him, "The call said that his throat had been cut. A very bloody way to die."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Steve and Catherine were seated on the couch peering intently at her laptop.

After Governor Page left, Steve had been dangerously quiet. Cat knew that he was furious over Page's insinuations that he was a victim in need of protection. While searching for something to distract him, she realized that she still hadn't really told Steve about her mysterious visitor in Greece.

"This is everything from the flash drive?" Steve asked, scrolling through the pages of transactions.

"Toast unencrypted everything," Catherine sighed in frustration, "I don't understand how this is supposed to help you."

"I don't either," Steve admitted.

Steve's cell phone rang at the same time that Danny and Rachel let themselves in the front door. They had large bags of Chinese takeout with them.

"Are Chin and Kono here yet?" Danny asked Catherine while Steve moved away to take the call.

"Not yet," she answered, "Danny, I have to report for duty tomorrow morning. I don't like the idea of leaving Steve alone."

"Don't worry. We'll all take part of the day."

"I don't need babysitters!" Steve snapped, rejoining them.

"Someone is actively trying to kill you," Danny snapped back, "We're not leaving you alone."

"I'll be at Five-0 HQ," Steve said, his expression absolutely angelic, "Where could I be safer?"

Everyone stared at him.

Not surprisingly, Danny recovered the power of speech first, "Excuse me? I thought you were recovering from you head injury. I didn't realize the brain damage was permanent."

Steve smirked, "I've been invited to come down."

"Is it part of the witness protection deal?" Catherine asked.

Now everyone was staring at her.

"Steve's going into witness protection?" Kono asked, betrayal evident in her expression.

"No," Steve smiled for another moment before becoming more serious, "The Governor was kind enough to stop by and offer to place me in WitSec. I declined. I have also been asked to come down to Five-0 tomorrow and pack up my personal possessions."

"I'll go with you," Danny decided.

"I'll follow-up on Taro's house, garage, and computer," Chin told them, "Kono, who don't you visit Max and Charlie, see what you can find out about Kidman's murder."

"I'm starving," Danny gestured towards the takeout bags, "Let's eat and I'll tell you about the marina. And Steve can tell us about his new friend, Governor Page."

Everyone was headed towards the kitchen for plates and drinks when Rachel cleared her throat to get their attention, "Am I allowed to ask what this is?" She pointed at the laptop.

Now it was her turn to be the center of attention.

"I just wondered because this seems like an extremely convoluted way to raise and transfer investment money."

"You understand this?" Steve asked.

"Well not the particulars but I understand the theory behind it."

Steve glanced at Danny to gauge his partner's reaction. He was surprised to find Danny almost joyful.

"Rachel, darling," Danny was beaming, "Right after dinner, I have some spreadsheets for you to look over."

**_Sneak Peak: Steve, Danny, Governor Page, and Darren Crosby on the floor in Steve's (or Crosby's) office while shots are fired._**


	9. Chapter 9

_Thank you everyone for your patience. I know that this chapter has taken a long time to write. I know have 2 kittens (5 months and 2 months) who want attention all the time and love to play on the key board._

_I tried to remember the layout of Five-0 HQ as best I could. I'm sure that I've taken some liberties. I apologize for any inaccuracies._

Catherine surveyed her new work space. Her role in Naval Intelligence earned her a nice office with a large desk, dual monitors, and plenty of lockable cabinets. Best of all, the sensitive nature of her work required an actual lockable door.

"Lieutenant Rollins?" a young Ensign stood in the hallway, "I was asked to bring you these files. Captain Sumners asks that you look them over before the briefing at 10 hundred."

"Thank you," Catherine took the files and settled in to familiarize herself with the material. It dealt with black market shipments of arms from China into the United States. The investigation seemed near its end. She was a little surprised that she was being included in the investigation as the final raid was about to go down. She wasn't a field agent.

A footnote in one of the files caught Catherine's attention. It involved a crate of experimental new tasers. It was only a footnote because the crate had gone missing, not arriving with the rest of the shipment.

Catherine logged in with her security credentials. Pulling up everything she could find on Chinese tasers, Catherine began reading about an experimental three prong taser. After the crate of prototypes had been stolen, the project had been discontinued.

Heart pounding, Catherine started a search for all information on three prong taser burns. Leaving the information to compile, she left for the briefing.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

"So who did you talk to again?" Danny asked, shooting a suspicious look at Steve from the passenger seat of his own Camero.

"Her name was Sarah," Steve explained (again), "She said she was the Five-0 task force's administrative assistant."

"That's like a secretary, right?"

"I don't think you can call them that. I think it's considered rude," Steve sped up a little to sneak through a yellow light, ignoring the glare Danny aimed at him.

"What do you think she does?" Danny pondered.

"How should I know? I've never had an admin," Steve shrugged, "Paperwork and stuff, I guess."

"Paperwork?" Danny's head snapped up, "You mean someone else could have been doing all the paperwork? You could have _hired_ someone to do that for us?"

"But I could never have found anyone as good at it as you," Steve reassured him.

Turning into the parking lot outside Five-0 HQ, Steve felt a flash of instinctive annoyance when he saw an SUV parked in his space before it hit him that it was no longer his space. He pulled into one of the visitor spots further down the row.

Danny didn't miss the shadow of pain on the former SEAL's face. He kept the conversation going to distract him, "It wouldn't matter if you did hire a secretary, she wouldn't stay more than a few days anyway."

Steve gave a small smile to acknowledge that he knew what Danny was doing as they got out of the car and headed into the building, "You've obviously failed to notice that women love being around me."

"Oh, I've noticed," Danny told him, "I've noticed that women _think_ they would love being around you. If they really had to spend as much time with you, and you dismal approximation of a personality, as I have they would realize differently."

Once inside the building, the two men had to wait to be waved through the visitor's check point. There was an awkwardness in being checked over by the men they had walked past with a nod everyday for a year.

Danny held his breath when Steve stepped through the metal detector, but Steve had apparently listened to him for once and left all knives and guns at home.

"Well that was awful," Danny remarked very matter-of-factly as they walked up the stairs, visitor's badges on their shirts.

"I think it's about to get worse," Steve told him, pushing open one of the double doors that marked the entrance to Five-0 Headquarters.

They walked down the short hall, past the offices that had once belonged to Kono and Chin. When they reached the central room, they found that the tech table had been pushed towards one of the back corners. The front of the room was now cut off by a new desk. A very professional woman in her early thirties sat behind the desk and greeted them with the blank courtesy of high-end receptionists everywhere.

Steve actually flashed her a very charming smile, maybe still thinking a little about Danny's comments earlier, "Hello, I'm Steve McGarrett. I think you called me yesterday about getting my things?"

The icy look on her pretty face melted into a genuine welcome, "I'm Sarah Thompson." She rose and gestured down the hallway that led away from the central space and back towards the interrogation room. "I'll show you where we've stored everything from the offices." She led them to a large storage closet next to interrogation.

"You look terrible," she made a sad little moue at Steve, taking in all of his cuts and bruises, which were now a spectacular greenish/yellow color.

"I'm fine," Steve assured her, "Danny can help me move stuff."

Danny was certain the little blond would have stayed to fuss over Steve but she was interrupted when a man called her name.

"Captain Crosby is back," Sarah apologized. "I'll check back as soon as I can, just in case you need anything."

Left alone, Steve and Danny turned to survey the boxes.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Rachel put down her cell phone and sighed. She had just finished her daily phone call to Grace and it was barely 9 a.m. She didn't start her new job until next week. She had already packed up everything from Stan's house that she was allowed to take. The real estate agent who would be helping them find a new place to live wasn't available until tomorrow.

Rachel's thoughts wondered back to the financial spreadsheets she had look at briefly the night before. Getting involved in a dangerous investigation was not high on her to-do list. Still, after seeing how hard everyone was working last night, Rachel felt like she should contribute, too. She didn't have Danny's burning desire to see justice done, but she did have an equally strong desire to help Danny, and, by extension, his ohana.

Rachel settled herself behind the desk in the study. Steve had told her that it would be fine if she worked there. She turned on the laptop, telling herself that she would spend a little time with this, and then go outside to enjoy the beach.

Five hours later, she finally turned off the computer. Her heart was racing and her hands were shaking. Combining the info Danny had gathered with data that Catherine had provided gave Rachel a list of transactions organized by unit, date, and currency amount. She had no way of knowing what the units were – they might be individual people, companies, or even terrorist cells.

What she did know was that, while the dates started about 6 years ago, the final transaction was set for tomorrow. Something was going to happen tomorrow and it didn't seem likely that it wouldn't be happening in Hawaii. Rachel needed to let Danny and Steve know about this right away.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

I can't believe how much of this stuff is broken," Danny was outraged on his friend's behalf, "You should sue for damages. Hell, you should sue for wrongful arrest and the fact that you were almost killed twice while in police custody."

When Steve failed to respond to his suggestions, Danny turned his attention away from a box of broken ship models. Steve was padding silently down the hall. He waved a hand to indicate that Danny should wait a minute.

Danny stayed in the storage room, half expecting to hear some kind of commotion as Steve did something incredibly stupid. Instead, Steve slipped easily back through the door a few minutes later.

"Page is here, I heard his voice," Steve explained.

"Did you hear what they were talking about?" Danny asked, going against his own better judgment.

Steve shook his head, "They went into Crosby's office."

The thoughtful look on Steve's face concerned Danny, "I want to know what they're talking about just as much as you do, but we not going to do something ill-considered." He hefted one of the boxes and passed it to Steve, relieved when his partner took it. "Let's grab your stuff and get out of here."

Steve nodded. It would take them a couple of trips to get everything. As visitors, they didn't have access to the back staircase or the freight elevator. That meant they would have to walk past Crosby's office, with its large windows, repeatedly. Steve wondered how that would go over.

He never found out. Just before he and Danny would have rounded the corner into the common space, Steve heard a sudden high-pitched squeak. He stopped silently and Danny did the same. In unspoken agreement, the pair returned to the storage room, shutting the door behind them.

"I think that was the admin," Steve whispered, "She sounded scared."

"Maybe she saw a spider. Maybe she's hoping that you'll come rescue her," Danny suggested, but he was whispering, too.

Steve shook his head, "If it was something like that then she would have made more noise. It doesn't feel right."

"We need to take a look but once we step around the corner we're sitting ducts. We don't even have any weapons," Danny's frustration could be heard in his voice.

"I have an idea," Steve was rummaging through the boxes as quietly as possible. He held up a small shatter proof mirror he had kept in his office in case he had need to shave. "We can extend this around the corner at floor level. Without the tech table in the center of the room, we should be able to see something."

Danny watched Steve's back, just in case someone decided to come up the stairs behind them, while Steve very slowly set the mirror on the floor and slid it around the corner. The seconds seemed to drag on forever. Danny desperately wanted to ask if Steve could see anything but he didn't dare make any noise. After an eternity, Steve pulled the mirror back and gestured for Danny to follow him back to the storage room.

The look on Steve's face told Danny that something was very wrong even before spoke, "Wo Fat is in Crosby's office."

"What?" It came out too loudly. Danny forced himself to whisper, "Wo Fat is here? Right now? Here in Crosby's office with Crosby and Page?"

"I could see Page, Crosby, Sarah, Wo Fat, and 3 of Wo Fat's men in Crosby's office. There are at least 2 more men in the outer office, covering the doors. I'd bet there are more in the back stairway."

Danny's mind was racing, "That's a lot of bad guys. I hate to admit it but I'm not having any brilliant ideas on how to handle this." He gave Steve a challenging look, "We need back-up – a lot of back-up."

Steve had pulled his cell phone out of pocket. He poked at it for a few seconds before giving Danny an apologetic look, "It's jammed. Looks like you're the back-up."

"Of course I am," Danny mumbled, "Why would Wo Fat risk coming here? Does he really think he can get away with killing 2 governors in less than a week?"

"We need to hear what's happening in there," Steve decided, "Come on – I have an idea." He lifted a set of lock picks out of one of the boxes and started to ease the door open, but Danny gestured for him to wait.

Danny grabbed a box of broken glass. Apparently searching Steve's office had required HPD to smash the longboards that had been in his refrigerator. Then someone had thoughtfully swept the mess into a box for him.

Danny passed Steve the neck of a bottle that now ended in jagged pieces before selecting on for himself. "Not the most elegant weapon by better than nothing."

"I can work with this," Steve assured him with a very scary smile.

Out in the hallway, Steve used the lock picks to very quickly and quietly open the door to the equipment closet. So quickly, in fact, that Danny suspected he had practiced for just this occasion. While Danny was imagining his partner spending late nights alone at HQ preparing for the day he would have to protect a high level official from a crime lord in his own office, Steve scooped up a small but powerful microphone with an earpiece and the toolbox.

He headed farther down the hall to the Five-0 locker room. Ignoring Danny's questioning look, Steve went directly into one of the curtained shower stalls.

Frustrated with not being able to see what Steve was doing in the small stall, Danny began to fidget, "There's really only one thing most men do alone in the shower and we don't have time for that right now."

Steve gave him the familiar you-are-not-amusing glare, "This shower is opposite the one in my private bathroom – the one I got for being in charge. They share plumbing. I took the shower head off and threaded the microphone through."

"So now we have ears on the empty bathroom next to the office we're interested in. Congratulations Commander!"

"The door latches badly. You have to slam it extra hard. It's open most of the time. This microphone is Intelligence grade equipment and the shower should amplify sound. We'll hear something."

"Okay then Super Seal, what are they saying now?" Danny was clearly skeptical about this plan.

Steve spent a few seconds fiddling with the earpiece before flashing Danny a triumphant smirk. He turned the volume up as loud as possible and held it between them.

Danny almost made a joke about being in the tiny shower stall with Steve but once he heard the tinny voices coming over the receiver he became all business.

". . . will be here tomorrow. Pat Jameson was supposed to make all the arrangements. Now, it's your responsibility to make sure that everything works out in my favor."

"Wo Fat?" Danny mouthed. Steve nodded.

"I told you before that I won't help you," Page snapped.

Steve and Danny exchanged a startled look – Governor Page had been in contact with Wo Fat.

"And I told you that my next warning would be bloodier," Wo Fat hissed, "I normally prefer to use more subtle methods but I'm on a tight schedule right now. I would have thought that Detective Kidman's very bloody death would have shown you how vulnerable you are. Or did you think that I didn't orchestrate that?"

"Doug had a wife and three kids," Darren Crosby's voice was strangled with emotion.

"Then he really should have chosen a safer line of work."

Wo Fat's callously dismissive reply was apparently more than Crosby could stand. Steve and Danny heard Crosby unleash a guttural cry. There were the sounds of a scuffle followed by several gunshots.

Even though Danny had been standing between Steve and the locker room door, the ex-SEAL used some sort of stealth ninja move to beat him to the hallway. Steve raced towards Crosby's office, but Danny ran smack into one of Wo Fat's men. He had been standing guard in the back stairway and was also responding to the sound of gunfire. Before the mercenary could bring his gun up, Danny jammed the jagged end of the bottle into the man's shoulder. The gun hit the ground and the goon hit the wall when Danny spun him around by his injured arm.

The interrogation room was conveniently located just a few steps down the hall. Danny tossed the wounded man inside, taking a second to grab a backup gun from his ankle holster.

"You should put pressure on that," Danny advised, "You could bleed out."

The sound of more gunfire reminded him that he didn't have time to spend with this idiot. Fortunately, the interrogation room door locked from the outside. Danny snagged the first gun from the floor, giving himself two weapons, and rushed after his partner.

Steve, meanwhile, burst out into the bullpen without pausing. The only real advantage he had was surprise and he needed to make the most of it. He stabbed the bottle neck directly into the throat of the first guard, killing him before he could even register Steve was there.

The second guard squeezed off two shots but they went wild when Steve shoved the dead body into him. Steve followed up with two well placed punches and the fight was over.

Snatching up both guns from the floor, Steve ducked behind the tech table for cover. Danny joined him there seconds later.

Steve knew that he had gotten lucky. If any of the bad guys in the office had wanted to take a shot at him, he'd be dead now. The only reason no one had noticed the guards going down was because all hell was breaking loose in the small room.

Sarah was on her knees, screaming. There was blood on her but not a lot and Steve didn't think any of it was hers. One of Wo Fat's men was clutching his side and bleeding heavily. He seemed about to collapse. The other two goons were pointing guns at Crosby and Page. The Governor was pointing a gun at Wo Fat. Crosby was unarmed and seemed to be favoring his right arm. There was blood on his sleeve but not an alarming amount.

Steve had a clear shot at Wo Fat but he didn't dare take it while the other men had guns on the Governor.

"We have to get in there," Steve informed Danny, his tone urgent, "On three – you go for the guy with the goatee, I'll take out the other one."

"And hopefully Page puts a bullet in Wo Fat," Danny added as he prepared himself to attack.

It might have worked that way, if Sarah hadn't chosen to climb to her feet and stagger forward just as Steve was kicking in the door in. It hit her, sending her flying into Page, who unintentionally fired off a round. The bullet went wild but still embedded itself in Wo Fat's left hip.

Steve tackled Page (and in the process Sarah) to get him out of the line of fire. Crosby sprang forward to defend the Governor but, in the confined space of the office, he unwittingly collided with Danny, knocking them both into one of Wo Fat's men, sending all three to the floor.

A moment of complete chaos ensued as everyone tried to get to safety. Wo Fat's remaining guard dragged the injured crime lord out of the office and around to the far side of the reception desk. The second guard crawled out from under Danny and followed them. The man with the wounded side had collapsed. He wasn't moving.

Steve and Danny urgently shoved Page out of the office, guiding him towards the back staircase. Several more of Wo Fat's men, who must have been covering the front door, arrived to surround the bloodied criminal.

Steve tried to provide cover fire for the Governor, but Sarah was clinging desperately to his right arm. Danny was in front with Page, leaving Crosby to squeeze off a few shots. Unfortunately, his earlier injury forced him to shoot with his off hand. All the shots went wild.

Danny led the way towards the safety of the back stairway only to find himself face-to-face with several more of Wo Fat's men, who were, in turn, being pursued by several members of HPD.

Frantic to stay out of the crossfire, Steve, Danny, Page, Crosby, and the terrified admin ducted through the closest door and found themselves trapped in the break room.

_Only 2 more chapters left. Next time we'll see who can do a better job of keeping the Governor safe - Steve McGarrett and his team or Darren Crosby and his team._


	10. Chapter 10

_Thank you so much for all your patience. I know that this chapter took a really long time. I originally wrote chapter 10 and hated it. So then I tried to fix it, finally I just scrapped it and started again. I hope that you think it was worth the wait._

Danny finished rummaging through the break room cabinets. Behind him, Page was looking at Crosby's arm injury. It was probably broken but all they could do right now was make a splint out of a chair leg and some dish towels. It turned out that ex-marines were almost as good at MacGyver medicine as ex-SEAL's.

Sarah was curled up on the floor in a corner, shaking badly. Danny had checked her over without finding any physical injuries. She appeared to be in shock but, again, there wasn't much they could do for her.

After they had taken shelter in the break room, the hallway had gone silent. Steve had risked opening the door and barely dodged a bullet. He reported that the end of the hall was being held by Wo Fat's men. HPD was nowhere in sight.

Danny looked over at Steve, who was staring pensively at the door, which they had blocked with the refrigerator, "The only things in the cabinets are some plastic utensils and a couple of coffee mugs."

Steve looked so disappointed that Danny couldn't help himself, "What did you think I was going to find? A spare had grenade? This isn't our office anymore, babe."

Steve responded with the smile that Danny usually saw just before Steve revealed some horrific new talent, like the ability to turn Danny's favorite dessert items into a deadly booby trap. Danny wondered if it was possible for his stomach to produce a spontaneous ulcer.

Before Steve could say anything, Crosby stepped forward to take charge, "I know that this situation sucks," he began, shifting his splint, trying to find a comfortable position while he addressed the group, "Believe me, I hate sitting here just as much as any of you do, but it's what we have to do. By now the building is surrounded by HPD. Wo Fat is injured; he'll have to surrender in order to receive medical attention. We're safe and the Governor is secure, so we wait."

"We don't know how badly Wo Fat's hurt," Steve protested. "It may just make him more desperate and dangerous."

Crosby was shaking his head his head, "We have to trust that we have good people out there who resolve this. Our objective is to keep the Governor safe. We play this smart."

"Who is in charge, anyway?" Danny asked, "I mean," he pointed at Page," you've only been Governor a few days. You haven't had time to get your own people in place and God knows you can't trust anyone from Jameson's staff." He made a gesture towards Crosby, "You're in here with us." His hands waved in a circular motion that seemed all encompassing, "Every time we whack one mole in HPD another pops up, so we can't trust them either."

"Eric Inouye is my second-in-command," Crosby informed them, "He'll take charge of the situation."

"There's no way he can have all the facts, "Steve insisted, "He doesn't know if the Governor is dead or alive, safe in here or tied to a chair with a gun pointed at his head. We need to let them know."

Crosby was about to protest when Page stepped between the two men, "Captain Crosby makes a valid point. The most prudent course of action is to wait here for help. We saw HPD officers in the hall, so we know that they are working on rescuing us," he gestured for Steve to let him finish, "However, if you have a workable plan for getting information to our people, I'm willing to listen."

Steve's eyes lit up in the way that Danny associated with a hail of bullets or a particularly large explosion. "Actually, I do have an idea. An idea that will get much more than intel out to our people."

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Rachel stared at her cell phone and pensively pinched the bridge of her nose. She had been trying to reach Danny for the past hour. Every call went directly to voicemail. It seemed unlikely that Danny would turn off his phone with everything that was going on.

Her first instinct was to grab her car keys and go find him, to see for herself that he was alright. Danny had gone with Steve to Five-0 headquarters, but that had been hours ago. She had no idea what kind of dangerous places the two men might have gone since.

Rachel picked up her phone again. This time she dialed one of the numbers Danny had programmed in last night.

It was answered on the second ring, "Chin? It's Rachel. I'm sorry to bother you but I can't get a hold of Danny."

Chin sat back in his desk chair and frowned, "I'm just about finished with Taro's computer. I was going to stop by the lab to see how Charlie and Kono are doing with the rest of the evidence from the garage. I'll swing by the Palace first – see if Steve and Danny are still there."

"Thank you," Rachel remembered why she had been trying to call Danny in the first place, "Chin, I spent the morning looking over all those spreadsheets. I don't understand it all, but something is happening tomorrow. It's the culmination of years of planning and smaller transactions."

"You're sure it's tomorrow?"

"Yes, but I can't tell you where or what time. There are dates and some codes that might be places or times, but there are several columns that I don't understand."

"You stay there," Chin was already heading for the parking lot, "I'll round everyone up. We'll meet back at the house to figure out what to do next."

Ending the call, Chin started his motorcycle, roaring off towards the Palace. He was still several blocks away when he realized something was very wrong. Blacks and whites were flying in from every direction, sirens and lights on.

Chin spotted Darren Crosby's second-in-command , Eric Inouye, surrounded by members of the Governor's security team. He didn't see either Crosby or Page. Chin had a very bad feeling about this.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Catherine left the briefing and made a quick stop on the way back to her office. "You guys have anything for me?" she asked two of the junior analysts.

"That intel you asked for this morning?" the young man gave her an overly friendly smile.

Cat was used to that kind of reaction. Although most of her colleagues were friendly and professional, as a woman in the Navy she sometimes encountered men who either didn't like her for being female, or felt she was an easy target for their charms. She preferred the later – they were easy to manipulate.

"You have it already," she did an excellent job of pretending to be impressed even as she plucked the file from his hand.

"I could go over that with you, if you'd like," he offered.

Catherine kept her smile firmly in place, "Ensign, if I needed you to do that, I wouldn't have these Lieutenant's bars."

Back in her office, Catherine spread out the contents of the file. Earlier, she had been interested in the tasers that had disappeared from the shipment of black market weapons she had been reading about. On her way to the briefing, she had asked the analysts to get her a report on other arms shipments, particularly inventory that had gone missing and could not be tracked.

There was a fairly massive amount of data. Cat called up the digital copy, which had been emailed to her even before she had stopped for the paper files, and started a search for certain commonalities.

On the surface, there was nothing alarming about these discrepancies. The original manifests often came from spies or informants. They weren't the most accurate pieces of information. So when a shipment was seized, no one was alarmed when the inventory wasn't exactly what had been expected.

The computer pinged softly to signal that it was finished with the search. Catherine quickly saw a disturbing trend. Starting roughly 5 years ago, a Chinese general named Nie Renchu had begun building a very healthy retirement fund by selling stolen Chinese military arms on the black market.

Renchu was apparently well connected enough that his superiors chose to ignore his activities. A US intelligence asset had provided fairly detailed inventories of each shipment. Many – too many, in fact, to be a coincidence – had been successfully intercepted by various international law enforcement agencies. Every shipment was missing some of the original inventory. It wasn't much from any single shipment. Added together, it could equip a small army very well.

Catherine pulled up everything they had on Renchu and his few known associates outside of China. There was pathetically little, mostly just a few photos and a couple of aliases. Something about one of the men bothered her. According to the files, his name was Hong Ping, although it was also noted that it was probably an alias. He was part of the organization that received the shipments after they left China. Almost nothing else was known about him.

Catherine studied his photo more carefully. There was something there that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She wondered if maybe Steve would recognize the name. After all, the Hess brothers had been arms dealers and Steve had spent years dismantling their network.

She was surprised, and a little worried, when Steve's phone went directly to voicemail. Even if he was swimming, or otherwise occupied, Steve never turned his phone off.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

Charlie Fong was fairly certain that Kono had just taken the last corner on two wheels. "Did the police teach you to drive like the?" He had to raise his voice to be heard over the police sirens, not so much the one on the Cruz as the ones on the squad cars they were passing.

Kono glanced over at him just long enough to take in his death grip on the dash board, "Nah, the boss taught me some tricks."

Charlie's answer turned into a small shriek as she swerved around a patrol car.

They had been at the crime lab, carefully going over evidence from Taro's house, when a report of gunfire at Five-0 Headquarters came over the radio. Kono had leapt to her feet, already reaching for her car keys, before she remembered that she wasn't Five-0 anymore.

Charlie had seen the stricken look on her face. That was why, when the radio had issued the order for all HPD officers to report to the Palace, he had insisted on going with her.

Sitting beside her in the wildly careening car, he was wishing that he hadn't.

Kono took one hand off the wheel to reach for her ringing phone.

"What are you doing?" Charlie yelped, "Don't let go of the wheel!"

She slanted an amused smile his way. "Why? We're not even moving," she answered as she slid the Cruz to a stop with a group of parked police cars, about a block from the Palace.

Charlie tumbled out of the car and waited for his heart to stop racing while Kono had a short conversation with the person on the other end of the phone.

"We have to find Chin right now," she announced, shoving her phone into a pocket, "Catherine has a possible lead but she can't get a hold of Steve."

They pushed their way through the growing crowd of on-lookers until they reached the police perimeter. Flashing their credentials got them both through and, as an added bonus, one of the officers had seen Chin near the front steps of the Palace.

Spotting her cousin among the members of HPD, Kono made a beeline for him, "Chin, I think something happened to Steve and Danny. Catherine says Steve turned his phone off. He never does that."

The grim set of Chin's mouth only alarmed her more. "Rachel couldn't reach Danny either. I was already on my way over here when the call came in about the shots fired."

"What's happening anyway?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Governor Page stopped by to meet with Darren Crosby. Apparently, a group of armed men stormed Five-0's offices. They may have been planning to kidnap the Governor, but it went wrong. Now we have a hostage situation." Chin glanced around, "The kidnappers have identified themselves but I'd bet anything Wo Fat's behind this."

"Do you think Steve and Danny are inside?" Kono's imagination was easily able to conjure up all kinds of different trouble the two men could get into.

"I think it's a pretty good bet," Chin told her, gesturing to Danny's silver Camero sitting empty in a visitor's parking spot.

_H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50_

The other three men in the room were all staring at Steve with different levels of disbelieve and shock as he climbed up on the table to reach the tiles in the drop ceiling. He quietly lifted up a seemingly random tile and began to fell carefully around. Less than a minute later, he smiled triumphantly and revealed a wicked looking knife.

"Really?" Danny asked, "You let me go through drawers, trying to figure out how to save us with plastic sporks, when you knew that was up there."

Steve's smirk was the only answer he needed to give.

"What else do you have hidden around these offices?" Crosby's tone was ominous.

"You haven't found out yet?" Steve seemed genuinely surprised, "I'll make you a list when we're out of here."

"Don't bother," Crosby's reply was icy, "I'll have the entire place swept myself."

"Who cares about a big knife?" Sarah cried from the corner, "Those men out there have GUNS."

Her four companions exchanged guilty looks. Once she had stopped crying, they had mostly forgotten about her.

"I'm not planning on using the knife to go up against their guns," Steve assured her. (He pretended that he didn't hear Danny's "That's a first"). "I'm going to make us another door."

Steve examined the section of dry wall that had been behind the refrigerator. He cut a few small holes until he had located the metal studs. "They're far enough apart that I can cut a hole we fit through."

"What if you cut into a wire and electrocute yourself?" Crosby asked, "It's an unnecessary risk when we can just stay here and wait this out."

"I already know the answer to this – and I hate that I already know the answer to this," Danny waved his hand at the wall, "But do you know what's on the other side? You've had this escape route planned out for a long time, haven't you?"

Steve deliberately ignored the second question, "There are a bunch of rooms along the back of the building that are used for storing old files. We go from the file room to the hall and then it's an easy walk down the west stairway, or we can even take the elevator."

Crosby was watching Page, trying to gage the Governor's reaction to McGarrett's plan, "Sir, I still thing we need to give my men time to get us out safely."

"I understand you concerns," Page clasped his uninjured shoulder for a moment, "The smart thing to do might be to wait here. However, like Commander McGarrett, I don't fancy being rescued like some damned damsel in distress."

Just like that, the decision was made. While Steve carved through the wall, Danny covered the door, just in case Wo Fat's men somehow figured out their plan and tried to rush the room. In surprisingly little time, Steve was about to open up a hole that was just big enough for them to squeeze through. Danny thought that Crosby looked just slightly disappointed when it was revealed that this section of wall did not appear to have any wiring.

Steve, of course, went through the wall first. Once he signaled the all clear, Crosby insisted that the Governor go next. Getting Crosby himself through was a bit more problematic because of the splint on his arm. The maneuvering required must have hurt, but he refused to let it show. Danny was a little afraid that Sarah might stay curled up on the floor, refusing to cooperate. She surprised him by jumping up and shimmying quickly into the next room.

When Danny finally joined everyone else, he noted that all the filing cabinets were evenly spaced, except for the two that should have been in front of their hole, "You really did have this route planned out, admit it."

Steve shrugged, "I was trained to always make note of all possible exits. It's what SEAL's do." He led them out into a long hallway that ran along the back of the building. There were doorways off one side and windows on the other. The sign marked stairs was only a few dozen feet away, not far past the elevator.

Danny noticed the frown on Crosby's face. He couldn't resist taking a swipe at the former Marine, "See how safe we are all? Steve's exit strategy worked perfectly."

Later, Danny would wonder if maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. No sooner had he spoken, then the building was rocked by what felt like a series of 3 small explosions. The crashing sound of shattered glass seemed to come from all sides as the windows exploded inward. The air was suddenly filled with thick white smoke that made breathing difficult and seeing almost impossible.

Steve tried to push Page and Crosby towards the stairway, when a door opened in front of them. Wo Fat's men poured out and filled the hallway. Two of his men were carrying the wounded crime lord.

Everyone brought their weapons to bear but it didn't matter. There was no cover. Wo Fat had them both outnumbered and outgunned. The Asian man gave them a cold smile, "If you won't help me Page, then killing you will cause enough confusion for my plans to succeed tomorrow. It's almost a shame that you won't get to see the end game, McGarrett, but killing you is just as satisfying."

Danny figured that there had to be some kind of meaning in the fact that they were going to die because Wo Fat had come up with basically the same escape plan that Steve had. Before he could begin to guess at what that meaning might be, the stairwell door was slammed open. Chin and Kono came out with their weapons drawn. Wo Fat and his men were trapped between them.

"Give up, Wo Fat," Steve ordered.

Through the grey haze, Steve heard Wo Fat's laughter. Then he heard a soft ping, "Damn it! They're next to the elevator! Don't let them get away!"

Unfortunately, in the smoky air, no one could risk shooting for fear of hitting one of their own. Steve threw himself forward, but he was too late. He collided with the elevator's closed doors. In frustration, he pounded his fists against the metal.

A second later, the former SEAL was pushing past Chin and Kono, rushing down the stairs, trying desperately to beat the elevator. Everyone else was right behind him.

The scene on the first floor was mayhem. Smoke grenades had broken the windows there, too. The police officers securing the floor had responded in various ways – some had run for cover in case the smoke was a cover for some kind of attack, some had rushed to get out of the building in case the smoke was poisonous, some had stumbled around looking for the source of the attack.

When Steve burst out of the stairway, several HPD officers pointed their weapons at him.

"Stand down!" he ordered them, not waiting to see if they obeyed before he raced towards the elevator.

The metal doors were closed. Steve aimed his gun and pushed the small round button, aware of Danny, Chin, and Kono gathering around him, also aiming their weapons at the elevator. The silver doors slid open immediately, but all they revealed was an empty, slightly bloodstained, car.

_Wo Fat is injured and running out of time. Do your hero's finally have the advantage?_


	11. Chapter 11

_Thank you to everyone who is still with me. There is one more chapter after this and I really want to have it done before the end of the month. I've learned a lot about writing a story this long, mostly that I should have much, much more of it done before I start posting. Again, I appreciate everyone who has read, reviewed, and stayed with me this long._

Steve stood on the lanai, looking out at the ocean. He ignored the commotion going on behind him in his house. The rigid set of his shoulders made it obvious that the sea was not bringing him the peace it normally did.

"It's not your fault," Danny remarked as he joined his partner, two bottles of water in his hands, "Even you couldn't have known that Wo Fat's men would be able t take down the SWAT snipers on the roof and fire off dozens of smoke grenades to create the perfect escape cover."

"Water, huh? Don't we usually sit out here and drink longboards?" Steve didn't directly acknowledge Danny's point, but the blond detective did notice the taller man's posture start to relax.

Danny shrugged, "I figured that since the Governor, the Chief of Police, and the Five-0 taskforce - who seem a little more by the books than the last group – are all inside waiting for us, we should stick to water."

"Why didn't you say they were waiting?" Steve took one of the bottles of water as he headed inside, "We won't catch Wo Fat standing out here."

Inside, Steve's living room had been turned into a temporary command center. All of his furniture had been carried out by the Governor's people. It had been replaced by several small tables, each surrounded by chairs. The walls were lined with white boards. At one end of the room sat Chin's beloved computer table, which had miraculously survived the shoot out in the office.

Crosby and his team had made some noise about holding this gathering at McGarrett's house but, in the end, they hadn't been able to suggest anywhere more suitable. The Five-0 offices had been destroyed. The rest of the Palace was in disarray. Wo Fat had been able to walk into the Governor's mansion without a problem. There were still too many leaks in HPD for anyone to seriously argue for setting up there.

So everyone came to Steve's house. In addition to the VIP's Danny had listed earlier, Kono, Chin, Catherine, Rachel, Charlie, and a few members of HPD – all of whom had been handpicked by the Chief – were also settling in.

After everyone had found a seat, Page addressed the room, "I want to thank everyone for coming. I know that we have not always been able to see eye-to-eye. There are many diverse views here today. We have a common enemy in Wo Fat. To bring him to justice, we will have to set aside our own egos and work together."

Page took a seat at the front of the room while Crosby distributed painfully thin copies of the case file. The taskforce leader was quickly able to summarize the accumulated knowledge of Five-0 and HPD. He ended with: "We know that Wo Fat was anxious to get the Governor's support for something that his happening very soon – so our timeline is very short. We have several leads to investigate. I've given all of you assignments. Does anyone have anything to add before I hand out those assignments?"

"I do," Steve smiled pleasantly, moving to the front of the room to address the gathering.

Crosby frowned at this turn of events, but moved off to the side just a little. Steve's people watched the two men with various degrees of amusement and anticipation. While the Governor had been moving furniture and Crosby had been creating the case file, they had been preparing their game plan.

Steve became very serious as he spoke to the room, "My team has come up with quite a bit of information in the last few days. Events have unfolded very fast so we haven't had time to coordinate all of our information. We need to lay out what we know and see if we can find some answers."

"That's a good idea," Crosby agreed, "but with time being so important, why don't you collect all the information one-on-one. That way other people can work on their own assignments. You can present your findings to the group later." He took a step forward, obviously expecting Steve to fall back, leaving him in charge again.

Steve, of course, held his ground. He straightened to his full height (a good 3 or 4 inches taller than Crosby) and turned what Danny had once called his hundred yard death glare on the new Five-0 captain. The former Marine also held his ground. The tension between the two men became palpable. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

"I think a brain storming session is just what we need," Page didn't step between the two men (there wasn't room) but he did meet and hold each man's eyes until they both backed down. Only then did the Governor retake his seat.

"Chin, will you work the table?" Steve nodded towards the computer table and its screens. "Danny, Rachel, start with what we've dug up on the financials."

Danny and his ex-wife joined Steve at the front of the room. Four people were too much for the space. Crosby was crowded off to the side and forced to take a seat.

While Chin brought up the spreadsheets they had given him before the meeting, Danny began to explain the digging he had begun into Hiro Noshimuri's financial records and how Rachel, with her background in finance, had been able to accomplish even more.

"Where did all this information come from?" Chief Makaha asked, looking at the many spreadsheets displayed on various screens, "This wasn't all available to HPD."

"Some of it was provided by Naval Intelligence," Steve replied smoothly, "Since I am still in the Reserves, the Navy was interested when I was arrested. That's why Lt. Rollins is here as a representative for Admiral Talkon."

Page frowned, "I wasn't aware the Navy was actively part of this investigation."

Steve was silently thankful he had taken the time the night before to call Sam Talkon. The two men went back a long way – Sam had been the one to recruit Steve into Intelligence work. Sam would make sure that Catherine's involvement had official backing. In fact, Steve suspected that Sam might have had something to do with Catherine's visitor in Greece.

"I apologize," Catherine said, "With the tragic and sudden changes at the Governor's office, I believe there was some confusion about who should be contacted."

"We'll be happy to have assistance from Naval Intelligence," Crosby assured her, "Why don't we sit down after this briefing to establish the ground rules for our cooperation?"

Cat pointedly ignored the offer, "Rachel, I think there's a connection between the transactions on your spreadsheets and the arms sales I've been looking into." She passed Chin a flash drive. A moment later, the screens split to show the new information side-by-side with the previous.

"Every one of Wo Fat's transactions happens just 2 or 3 days before one of these arms deals goes down," Danny observed.

"There are several transactions without a following sale," Cat pointed out, "but that could just mean that law enforcement wasn't aware of the sale."

"So how does this work?" Kono asked, "It starts with a greedy General stealing from the Chinese military. What happens next?"

"He works with someone outside of China who takes possession and then arranges a sale," Cat answered.

"Only a very large number of those sales seem to go badly and the buyers end up in jail," Steve pointed out, "While the broker always gets away."

"How does he stay in business if his buyers keep getting busted?" Chin wondered, "Who would be willing to do business with him?"

"He seems to operate a very large network. It's likely that the buyers don't realize who they're really dealing with," Cat replied.

"Could he be tipping off the authorities?" Danny suggested, "Currying favor with different governments, making it likely that they would overlook some of activities?"

Steve nodded, "Very possible. Don't forget – he's also skimming off part of the shipments. Maybe by having the buyers end up in jail, he's covering the fact that some of the merchandise is vanishing."

"This is a very interesting theory," Crosby told them, "but how does it relate to Wo Fat and what's happening right here, right now?"

"Wo Fat said that he's out of time," Kono began to tick off points on her fingers, "According to Rachel's analysis, another mystery transaction is scheduled for tomorrow. Cat's Intelligence group is part of a raid on another arms deal in the Philippians in 3 days. The timing all fits."

"It does," Page agreed, "but it's hardly conclusive."

"Hey, everyone should take a look at this," Chin had been using the table surface to sort through the data on Catherine's flash drive. With one press of the touch screen, he replaced all the financial spreadsheets with a single photograph.

Reaction was immediate from most of the room. Kono gasped. McGarrett's eyes went hard and flinty. Williams, Page, and Crosby all swore – with great creativity.

Cat was confused, "That's Hong Ping. He sells the weapons once General Renchu gets them out of China. I was hoping that Steve might know something about him from the years he spent on the Hess investigation."

"Oh I do," Steve's voice was as cold as his eyes, "You know him as Hong Ping, but we know him as Wo Fat."

"That proves the connection!" Danny pumped his fist triumphantly, "Wo Fat is brokering the sale of stolen Chinese weapons. He's skimming from the shipments and tipping off international authorities so the buyers are arrested. No one realizes anything is missing."

Catherine nodded, "He spread the tips over a bunch of agencies in different countries. That made it almost impossible to connect them."

"And he used his position with the Yakuza to hide the connection from potential buyers," Kono added, "He let different Yakuza lieutenants front the sales for him."

"If we're right, then tomorrow Wo Fat is going to be bringing his entire weapons cache together," Steve pointed out urgently, "We need to find a way to get those weapons and put and whatever plan Wo Fat has in motion."

"Can Naval Intelligence help?" Page asked Catherine.

She shook her head, "My group left for the Philippians this morning to get ready for the raid."

"I bet Wo Fat planned that sale and then leaked it to the Navy in order to draw away as much military presence as he could," Danny speculated.

"I can have my men fan out across the island," Makaha volunteered, "We'll pull at every contact and informant we have until we find something."

"Have them report everything directly to us," Crosby told him, "We know that they had inside help to get the jump on SWAT like that at the Palace."

Steve at moved to the back of the room and was studying the computer table thoughtfully.

"You got something?" Danny asked him.

"Maybe. Rachel, am I looking at this correctly? Did Hiro Noshimuri buy a fruit growing operation on Kauai last year?"

"He did," Rachel confirmed. She joined Steve and began quickly flipping through the information.

"That would be an excellent cover," Chin remarked, "Kauai only as a population of about 58,000. It's much quieter than Oahu or even the Big Island. There's a lot of agriculture there so nothing would look out of place."

"I think we're onto something," Rachel smiled, "Noshimuri does own a sugarcane plantation. He also owns several large warehouses, which he uses to ship the sugarcane back to the mainland. There are records of the shipments leaving Kauai. There are also matching records of the shipments arriving in Las Angeles."

"That sounds pretty legitimate," Kono frowned.

"It does," Rachel agreed, "Except that that there is never any payment for the sugarcane or record of where it goes after it reaches port in LA. I think that they're shipping empty boxes, just for show."

"This is great work," Steve was energized, practically bouncing in his eagerness for action, "Now we know where to look for Wo Fat."

"Kauai is pretty remote," Makaha sounded doubtful, "If we're wrong then he'll get away clean before we can get back. I think that we should send a small group to check it out while the rest of us search for Wo Fat here. This island is a much better target for whatever he's planning."

"I like that idea," Crosby agreed, "Let Inouye take Kelly and a couple of SWAT guys over to take a look. If they find something, they can observe until we can get there. There's not much out there of any significant value, so we'll have a little time to react. If Wo Fat turns out to be here on Oahu, the danger will be much greater."

"That's crazy!" Danny shouted, "Kauai is our best lead. Why would we waste –"

"If you want to concentrate on Oahu, that's fine," Steve calmly interrupted his partner, "Chin, Danny, Kono, and I will check out Kauai. We'll let you know what we find."

"Of course we would be happy to take down the super criminal by ourselves, without back-up," Danny ranted.

Crosby glared at McGarrett, "Unfortunately, you have no legal standing to be part of any investigation. You'll stay here and coordinate things while the actual law enforcement officers arrest the criminals."

"If you want me to stay here, then you'll have to arrest me again," Steve took a threatening step towards Crosby.

"I'll charge you with tampering with an investigation," Crosby reached for his handcuffs.

"Enough of this!" Page yelled. "You two are going to have to get along." The Governor looked down at his phone, "My office has received the confirmation from Naval Intelligence that both Lt. Rollins and Lt. Cmd. McGarrett are assigned to this investigation. That gives him official standing."

"We're wasting time, Governor. Would you like me to get my men out on the streets?" Makaha asked.

"No, have the uniforms step up patrols at the docks. Wo Fat is going to need a lot of space and some privacy for whatever he's planning. If anyone sees anything unusual, they should report it at once. SWAT is going with Five-0 and Commander McGarrett's team to Kauai."

Makaha didn't seem very happy with the answer but he could tell that the Governor's mind was made up.

Crosby nodded, "I think that we should go over tonight, after it gets dark. We can try to get in position around the warehouses before sunrise."

"That's a good idea," Steve agreed, "I also think that if we involve local law enforcement, we need to keep a very close watch on them. Wo Fat has been able to plant any number of moles in HPD. I'm sure he's cultivated some on Kauai."

"That's a good point," Page told him, "I want Crosby and McGarrett to coordinate our raid. Then everyone needs to get some rest before you head out." He took a moment to make eye contact with everyone in the room. "Good luck and good hunting tomorrow."

_Next comes the action packed final chapter._


	12. Chapter 12

_This is the end. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has kept reading all summer. I never expected it to take so long but it has. It's been wonderful to get all of your reviews._

_I can't wait to see tomorrow night's premiere!_

"How is this my life?" Danny Williams asked.

Beside him, Kono Kalakula tried not to let him hear her sigh. That would only rile him up more. It didn't matter because Danny was already off and ranting. Kono shifted on the warehouse roof, settling into a more comfortable position.

"In New Jersey, a stakeout involves spending a night sitting in your car until your ass falls asleep, drinking cold coffee, and discussing the Devils' chances next season with your partner. In Hawaii, it apparently means taking a seaplane out over the bottomless black ocean, then landing on said ocean so that we can JUMP OUT INTO A TINY RAFT."

"That was pretty cool," Kono agreed.

"That was - ? No, it was NOT cool," now Danny's hands were cutting through the air in front of him, "That was CRAZY. It was the sort of crazy thing that Navy SEALs do – which of course explains everything – not the sort of thing that police officers do."

He fell silent for a moment as he watched Kono finish positioning their final camera. After using the rafts to land on a pier with access to Noshimuri's warehouses, they had quickly picked a neighboring building from which they could watch and wait for Wo Fat to arrive. Crosby and two of his men, Brian Jaggar and Kayo Hosoi, were setting up cameras on the far side of their target.

They had chosen this building for their base because the roof had a decent sized storage shed that they could use for their equipment. Chin was in there now, setting up the computers they would use to watch the camera feeds.

Steve, meanwhile, had slunk off – ALONE – into the predawn darkness to take a closer look at Wo Fat's set-up. He had been dressed in almost the same black ninja gear that he had been wearing the night Jameson was murdered. The fact that they were all dressed in similar outfits didn't stop Danny's stomach from twisting in knots as he watched him disappear into the night.

There were so many things wrong with letting Steve go off without him. Danny desperately wanted to explain each and every one of them to his partner, but he couldn't because Steve was somewhere out in the gloom – ALONE.

Danny was so busy imagining all the dangers that a solo McGarrett could bring upon himself that he failed to notice the black form that slipped over the edge of the roof behind him.

Steve sat silently for a moment, watching Danny, who was practically vibrating with pent up words. He exchanged an amused look with Kono over Danny head.

"If the cameras are all in place, why don't we join everyone else inside?"

At the sound of Steve's voice Danny jumped, letting out a little yelp and turning to glare at Kono, "A little warning would be nice."

Kono smiled sweetly as she headed back to the shed to see if Chin needed any help.

The dark cameo make-up on Steve's face made his smirk more pronounced than usual, "Are you just going to sit around while the rest of us catch the bad guys?"

Danny followed him towards the shed, muttering under his breath about what sort of goes idiot off by himself without any kind of back-up. If he took the opportunity to give Steve a quick once over to make sure there were no obvious new bleeding wounds or other injuries, that was no one's business but his own.

Inside, Crosby's group had returned. Everyone watched as the four laptops began to cycle through the camera feeds.

"It's not ideal," Chin told them, "We've got 8 cameras and only 4 computers. We may miss something."

"We'll make it work," Steve assured him, "Are communications up?"

Chin nodded, "I've established a connection to SWAT. Once the sun rises, they'll move in with their boats. They'll blend in with the other fishing boats that go out in the morning. They'll be 15 to 30 minutes out when we call them. We also have a link to Five-0 Headquarters. The Governor is there, waiting to talk to us when we're ready."

"Go ahead and put the call through," Steve instructed.

"Not yet," Crosby countered, "Give us a report on your surveillance first."

The two men shifted so that they were facing each other.

"The Governor's on speaker," Chin announced, blithely ignoring the glare Crosby directed at him.

"Can everyone hear me?" Page's voice came through clearly.

"Yes, sir," McGarrett and Crosby answered simultaneously.

Near the back of the shed, Danny and Kono exchanged an uneasy look. This could get ugly very fast.

Apparently, the tension transmitted through the speakers because the Governor paused before continuing, as if he was choosing his words carefully, "Darren, yesterday we discussed the fact that Commander McGarrett and his team are much more familiar with the Wo Fat case. They have the lead on this."

"Yes, sir," Crosby's voice was even but the flush on his checks gave away his embarrassment.

Being neither vindictive nor petty, Steve immediately covered the awkwardness, "We've established a command center. There are surveillance cameras in place. The building has a front entrance, the loading dock entrance, and a side door that faces this building. Now we wait for Wo Fat."

"Have you seen anyone in the warehouse? Are the weapons there? Is there any activity currently?" Page asked, his marine background evident in his no-nonsense questions.

"There appear to be about 6 men inside. They were napping and playing cards. Wo Fat is not here yet. I was about to see a few crates but the warehouse appears mostly empty. They have 2 dozen empty palettes ready to be loaded." Danny and the rest of the team were getting a glimpse at Active Duty SEAL.

"Remember, McGarrett," Page's voice was stern, "Wo Fat is injured. He may not show up in person. I understand your personal motivations, but this could potentially be a massive cache of weapons. If you have the opportunity to seize those weapons that is your primary objective."

"Yes, sir," the rigid set of Steve's shoulders made Chin wonder if the younger man really had an intension of obeying that order.

"Detective Inouye and Lt. Rollins are set up here at 5-0 with Chief Makaha. Inouye is available to do any research you need done. Rollins is monitoring satellite images of the area. Makaha has his men out all over Honolulu, just in case we're wrong about this. They'll let you know immediately if they find anything. I have to go back to my office but Makaha will keep me up to date," Page closed the connection.

Everyone settled in to watch the camera feeds and wait. Danny wondered idly how hot it would get in a wooden storage shed on a warehouse roof once the sun rose.

H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50

It turned out that the shed got very, very hot.

"Why didn't we pack fans?" Danny asked.

Kono waited a beat to see if someone else would answer him. When no did, she sighed, "We could only carry so much stuff. Remember when you were complaining about how heavy everything was?"

Danny was indignant, "I wasn't complaining. I was complaining a legitimate concern for how much weight we were piling into flimsy, SINKABLE rafts."

Knowing that his partner just needed to blow off steam after being cooped up all morning, Steve tuned the conversation out. He concentrated on reviewing the list of weapons that had been delivered so far.

The deliveries had come in trucks, disguised as fruit. Fortunately, Steve had been able to plant a camera on the loading dock the night before. Also fortunate, Wo Fat's men were leaving the dock door open. Steve figured the warehouse was hot, they liked the breeze coming off the water, and there was enough privacy that they felt safe. It was still sloppy. Steve almost commented on it before remembering Danny's feelings about the heat. He decided to stay quiet.

The lackeys were opening the boxes to inspect the contents, offering their hidden camera an excellent view of various automatic weapons, ammunition, grenades, and even a rocket launcher. Jagger was estimating quantities from the size of the boxes.

"Inouye just sent over the info on the trucks," Chin reported. "He ran the plates we gave him. There are a couple of shell companies involved, but he traced them to Noshimura. And get this," he paused to make sure he had everyone's attention, "The plates from that last truck link back to a company registered in Pat Jameson's name."

"Makes sense," Danny mused, "You're Wo Fat. You make sure there's dirt out there to find on Jameson so you can use it to keep her in line."

"This makes the case against Jameson stronger, but none of it links back to Wo Fat," Hosoi pointed out, "If we don't catch him red handed, it'll be hard to make a case against him."

"We'll get him," Steve's voice was the coldest any of his friends had ever heard it.

H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50

It was close to an hour later that they heard the soft ping that signaled an in-coming call from HQ. Chin listened quietly for a minute before passing the headset to Steve.

Catherine's soft voice came over clearly, "Hey Sailor, I just spotted something." She was patched into several military satellites, using them to monitor Kauai. The Governor had used every connection he had to make it happen. "There's a small cargo ship headed your way. Inouye and I have followed its rather complicated ownership trail back to a company owned by Wo Fat."

Steve could feel his heart start to race, "This is the connection we need! How far out is the ship?"

"Maybe an hour at its current speed."

As Steve relayed the news to the rest of his team, Danny perked up, "Not much longer to wait then. We'll have to move in before they load the ship."

Danny glanced over at Steve, expecting his partner, who under most circumstances had the same tolerance for waiting as your average toddler, to be full agreement. The pensive look on Steve's face surprised him. A moment later he wanted to slap himself for being so obtuse.

Danny hurried to reassure Steve, "I'm sure Wo Fat will want to be here to oversee things personally."

"He might be on the ship," Kono added.

Crosby shook his head, "According to Inouye and Rollins, the ship is arriving from Asia. We know that Wo Fat's been in Honolulu. He's not on board." He continued grimly, "We have to accept that Wo Fat probably won't be here. He's hurt – badly I think. Hell, he could be dead," Crosby waved a hand to forestall Steve's protest, "I don't think he is either, but he could be. We cannot allow this cache to disappear. Once that ship gets here, we have to call in SWAT and make our move."

Steve's teammates silently held their breath, waiting for their leader's response.

"You're right," Steve admitted slowly, "Our primary objective is the shipment." He checked the time, "We have 50 minutes before the cargo ship docks. Then we call SWAT and move in, whether Wo Fat's here or not."

The next 35 minutes passed in tense silence. Yet another truck with cases of guns – side arms this time – arrived. Watching Wo Fat's men unload them, Steve ran through the mental list he had composed of the possible plans the Chinese crime lord could have for this arsenal. Each was more horrific than the one before. There was no question – they could not let these crates slip through their fingers. Still, to let Wo Fat escape made his stomach roll.

"Black Cadillac sedan approaching," Chin reported. He pointed to one of the computer screens where a black car was coming to a stop by the loading dock.

Three men got out. They were all wearing expensive suits that were well tailored enough to hide the tell-tale handgun bulges – unless you were looking for them. These were well paid bodyguards, a higher class of henchmen than the men unloading the trucks.

Two of the bodyguards took up positions by the car's rear passenger door. Once the third man had scanned the area from the loading dock, he signaled an all clear. The car door opened and Wo Fat emerged. He entered the warehouse moving with the careful, slow movements of someone in pain.

Danny rubbed his hands together gleefully, "There's our criminal, we have the weapons, and the ship is arriving. Call in SWAT and let's go."

Steve nodded to Chin, who picked up the radio to signal SWAT. Everyone began gathering gear. It was time to move into position.

H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50

"Wo Fat's on site," Catherine reported to Inouye and Makaha, "They're signaling for SWAT now. It's almost over."

"Damn, I wish I was there," Inouye told her.

Cat nodded her agreement. She looked over, expecting Makaha to third the sentiment only to find him heading out the door. "Chief is everything okay?" she asked.

He paused in the doorway, "I'm going to brief the Governor in person. He'll want to know right away."

Something about his tone, or maybe his eyes, made Catherine uneasy, but Inouye's voice distracted her before she could figure it out.

"I think we might have a problem." He had put on an earpiece which allowed him to monitor the radio transmissions from the other island.

Catherine's head snapped around, "What's wrong?"

"SWAT isn't responding. I don't know if they're receiving the signal. Chin's still trying to contact them."

Putting on her own earpiece, Catherine also listened to Chin trying to get a response from SWAT. She and Inouye exchanged worried looks. Were they going to lose Wo Fat over an equipment failure?

"Does Makaha have another way to contact his men?" Catherine asked.

"I don't know," Inouye reached for the phone, "Why didn't he just call the Governor? I'll try and get him back here ASAP."

Before he could finish dialing, the radio crackled to life with SWAT's pre-arranged confirmation signal. Catherine let a soft sigh of relief escape. It looked like things were back on track.

H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50

Steve and Danny were crouched down behind a stack of old palettes, watching Wo Fat's men begin to lead their cases of illegal arms on to the newly arrived cargo ship. Their target was at the end of pier, with water on two sides. Everyone was in position on the two land sides, waiting for SWAT and their boats to secure the ocean access.

"SWAT should be here by now, right?" Danny asked.

"They're giving us time to get in position," Steve told him.

Danny looked skeptical but kept his mouth shut.

Steve very quietly contacted Chin over the earpiece radios they all wore, "Any sign of SWAT?"

"Nothing yet," Chin sounded as tense as Steve felt.

Danny leaned in close so that his voice wouldn't carry, "Just assuming that for some reason SWAT doesn't come, what the hell are we going to do?"

Steve considered his options. Including Crosby and his men, there were seven of them. Wo Fat had five men in the warehouse, three bodyguards, and at least a six man crew on the ship.

"We need to move and we need to do it now," he finally decided, "SWAT isn't coming. We can't let Wo Fat have these weapons. If we wait any longer, he may decide to cut his losses and leave with what's already loaded."

"So help me, McGarrett, if you blow-up this warehouse I AM NOT doing the paperwork," Danny mumbled, gathering himself t run forward at Steve's signal.

The next few minutes were a blur of chaos, gunfire, and adrenaline. Using the truck as cover, Steve and Danny were able to make it onto the loading dock and just inside the building, finding shelter behind the wooden crates.

"Report!" Steve barked into the radio once the gunfire had dwindled to sporadic.

"I have four men pinned down on the ship," Kono reported, "I wounded at least one, possibly two." It had been her assignment to take up a position on top of the some large cargo containers next to the pier.

"We've found cover in the office just inside the front door," Crosby radioed, "We surprised three of the guys from the warehouse and one from the ship. Two are down, possibly dead, and one is across from us, behind some boxes."

"We're on the dockside of the warehouse," Chin broke in, "There's a good sized powerboat tied up out here. It may be part of an escape plan. Does anyone have eyes on Wo Fat?"

"Negative," Steve replied, "Danny and I took down two of his bodyguards and the other warehouse worker. We're behind some boxes. I don't have much line of sight but we're not taking any fire."

"We're not taking any fire because we're sitting behind boxes of explosives!" Danny pointed out, "Now use all the Super SEAL training my tax dollars paid for and figure out how to get us out of here."

To Danny's alarm, Steve began to study the boxes in front of them thoughtfully, "What do you think is in these? This one looks like the rocket launcher."

Fortunately for Danny's sanity, the sounds of sirens became faintly audibly, growing louder rapidly, "Hey, back-up is almost here and you haven't even fired a rocket yet."

Steve was just about the give a suitably indignant reply when he was suddenly cut off by several gunshots from the far side of the warehouse, followed by a frantic "Office down!" from Chin.

Both Steve and Danny sprang out from behind the crates and raced towards their teammate. Shots rang out from the front of the warehouse but Crosby and Hosoi quickly covered them. They found Chin kneeling beside Jagger, applying pressure to a wound in his side.

At the edge of the dock, Wo Fat's remaining bodyguard was helping his injured boss into the powerboat. Danny was vaguely aware that several police cars had arrived, spilling cops onto the scene. He fired a shot, hitting the bodyguard as he was trying to untie the boat. Unfortunately, it only grazed him. Danny was lining up another shot when he suddenly realized that the cops were pointing their weapons at him.

"Drop your guns and put your hands behind your head!" a nervous looking young officer shouted.

Steve ignored them, running towards the boat, intending to jump aboard before it could pull away. He was in mid-air, halfway between the boat and the dock when a shot fired by one of the police hit him, throwing him to the side and into the water.

Danny stared, frozen, as Steve vanished beneath the surface and Wo Fat sped away.

"Stand down! They're the Governor's taskforce!" yelled an older police office, probably their Captain. He emerged from the warehouse with Crosby.

It snapped Danny out of his trance. He started to run to the edge of the dock when another figure flew past him. It was Kono, shedding pieces of body armor as she went. Danny barely had time to register her presence before she dove into the water.

Time seemed to stand still as Danny held his breath, willing his teammates to reappear. Then suddenly there they were. Kono helping to support a coughing and choking Steve until Danny and Crosby were able to help them both out of the water.

A short time later, Danny hovered around the back of an ambulance as Steve was being treated. Jagger had already been transported.

"Your certain he doesn't need to go to the hospital, too?" Danny asked the EMT, "He just got out of the hospital for being blown-up. I don't think he's 100%."

Steve waved the medic away irritably, "I'm fine Danny. The bullet just knocked the breath out me. I didn't even need Kono's help. I already had the vest off and was on my way to the surface."

Danny was skeptical. He also noted the grimace that ghosted across Steve's face when he stood up, although it was gone so quickly that anyone less familiar with the ways of Steve McGarrett would have missed it.

The EMT shrugged as he began to gather his things. Danny knew that he would never succeed in getting Steve to rest right now but he did resolve to watch his partner carefully for any ill effects.

Chin saw Steve up and hurried over, "Still no idea on why SWAT didn't come. Catherine found their boats. They're on their way back to Oahu but they're not responding to any calls."

Steve shook his head, "That makes no sense. Flying, we'll beat them back. We'll just have to be at the dock to ask them what's going on."

"Why did the locals show up, guns blazing like that?" Danny wanted to know.

"They got a tip," Kono reported, joining them, "Some called in and said that a group of eco-terrorists who have issues with the fertilizers used on the fruit were planning to attack the warehouse workers. They were even given our general descriptions."

"Can we trace the call, or learn anything from it?" Steve asked.

"Maybe," Chin told him, "I'll have Fong start on it right away, but it will probably be awhile before he has anything."

Steve nodded, "Has anyone reported to the Governor?"

"I brought Catherine and Inouye up to speed while you were being treated," Danny replied, "They'll brief the Governor."

"What did Makaha have to say about his SWAT team taking off?" Chin's tone was tinged with sarcasm.

Danny shrugged, "He wasn't there. He went over to the Governor's office."

Crosby and Hosoi joined them.

"How's Jagger doing?" Steve asked softly. This was his op and one of the men under his command had been injured. That weighed on him. It didn't make him feel any better that his concern was mingled with a tiny bit of relief that it wasn't Danny, Chin, or Kono in the hospital.

"The doctors are cautiously optimistic. Now that they have the bleeding under control, the damage doesn't seem as bad as they first feared," Hosoi reported.

"The Governor has a private jet waiting to fly us back to Oahu," Crosby gestured towards a pair of SUV's parked nearby, "We should get going. The sooner we can co-ordinate the manhunt for Wo Fat, the sooner we'll catch him."

As they all headed for their transportation, Crosby clasped Steve's shoulder, "I know how much you wanted Wo Fat, but we were able to seize the entire arms shipment. We've done good work today."

"Yes we have," Steve agreed, "Now let's go do some more."

H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50

The short flight was almost over when Chin sat down next to Steve, "Brah, we may have a problem."

"What is it?" Something in Chin's quiet tone told Steve that this was serious.

"I tried to contact HQ to give them our ETA and see if they had any leads on Wo Fat," Chin paused, concerned with how Steve would react to his next piece of news, "No one's answering. I can't contact Inouye. Or Catherine."

"Maybe they're working a hot lead and can't answer right now?" Danny suggested from Steve's other side, "It doesn't have to mean anything bad."

"I think it might," Kono told him. In the plane's small cabin, she had been able to follow the conversation while making phone calls, "I contacted the Governor's office. I wanted to see if he knew what was going on at HQ. They told me that he hasn't been there at all today."

"Then where is he?" Steve asked.

The team exchanged helpless looks, forced into unaccustomed inaction until the flight was over.

A short time later, a soft bump signaled that they had landed. Steve was at the door, opening it while the plane was still rolling to a stop. The second the stairs were extended, he as sprinting across the runway towards the cars Crosby had arranged to have waiting for them. The rest of his team was only a step behind.

"Should we have HPD meet us there?" Danny asked, hanging on for dear life as Steve careened through the streets of Honolulu.

"No, we're only a few minutes out," Steve jumped the curb to go around a car on curve, tossing Kono and Chin around in the backseat, "Besides, I'm really tired of not being able to trust the people who are supposed to be on our side."

They screeched to a skidding stop in front of the Palace. Crosby and Hosoi pulling up in the other car a minute later. Danny was secretly a little impressed that Crosby had been able to keep up with Steve in the city traffic.

The all charged for the building, guns drawn. Steve and his team flew past the startled security guards.

"Has anyone seen or heard anything unusual from the Five-0 offices?" Crosby demanded.

The guards shook their heads mutely. Crosby cursed under his breath and followed the others up the stairs.

Just outside the Five-0 doors, Steve brought everyone to a halt, "Danny – with me. We'll take the offices to the right. Chin and Kono – take the offices to the left. Crosby, Hosoi – take the back hallway. On my mark – GO!"

Silent and efficient, they streamed though the double doors. They were all experienced enough to recognize the empty stillness but they still fanned out to their assigned areas.

Steve listened as, one-by-one, each of his people called out clear. He was standing in his office (His former office? Crosby's office? He didn't have time to consider the future right now.) when something metallic clattered to the floor in the distance.

"Steve, get over here!" Chin yelled, "I found Inouye. He's been shot but he's alive and awake."

Steve and Danny hurried across the central room, towards Chin's voice. They dropped to the ground on either side of Inouye. He was awake, but barely.

"Officer down at the Palace in the Five-0 offices, send an ambulance," Kono was on her cell phone, calling for help.

"What happened? Where's Catherine?" Steve demanded, even as Danny began to access the fallen man's injuries.

"Makaha . . . Rollins tried to call Page . . . she was on hold . . . Makaha came in with a gun," Inouye was struggling to remain conscious. He clutched Steve's hand urgently, "He wanted her to send you into a trap . . . she wouldn't do it."

Steve closed his eyes, overcome by the guilt of knowing that he once again put someone he loved in danger.

"The ambulance just arrived downstairs," Kono reported, "The crew is on their way up."

Steve leaned in closer, "Where is Catherine?"

"Makaha was furious . . . shoot her . . . I tried . . . rushed him but he shot me . . . she ran over . . . slipped her GP . . ." Inouye's hand slipped from Steve's grasp as he lost the battle to stay awake.

"Chin! See if any of our GPS chips are active!" Steve ordered as he and Danny moved aside to make room for the medical personnel.

"I've got something!" Chin's tone was triumphant, "It's coming from a small cove that's part of a wildlife park."

"A cove?" Danny was alarmed, "Like part of the ocean? Do you think he's trying to leave the island?"

"We won't give him the chance," Steve swore. He sprinted back to the cars, his team once again behind him.

They suffered through another harrowing ride as Steve set what Danny was certain had to be a record for consecutive number of turns on two wheels. Steve skidded to a stop next to Makaha's SUV. The vehicle was empty but the spot offered a clear view of the cove and the submarine that was anchored there.

"Really!" Danny demanded, "Wo Fat is now the super villain escaping by submarine?"

"I have to admit that I'm a little bit impressed," Kono confessed.

Even Chin's usually unbreakable calm seemed to falter a little.

Steve had no time for surprise or awe, "Come on. We have to find a way on board."

"You're going to find to supply that," Danny told him as they advanced down the slight slope towards the beach, "Because unless I'm wrong, everything the three of us knows about submarines could fit on the head of a pin."

Steve never got reveal his daring plan for breaching the sub because, at that moment, the main hatch near the sub's nose opened to reveal a pale and panicked looking Chief Makaha. Four guns immediately sighted on him.

"If you shoot me, my associates inside will kill Lt. Rollins," Makaha's voice was shaky. Steve guessed that the aging paper-pusher had never believed that his association with Wo Fat would blow-up on him this way.

"You need to let her go," Steve commanded, his Sig never wavering.

"We will," Makaha assured him, "Once Wo Fat arrives we'll be leaving. You will not follow us. Once we're far enough away, we'll leave your pretty girlfriend in a lifeboat with a distress signal."

Danny's heart bled for his friend, "Steve, they won't let her go."

"I know," Steve's gun remained steady, "That's why they're not leaving."

Behind them, Crosby and Hosoi finally arrived. (They had not been as success at staying with Steve this time.) They joined Steve and the rest of the team.

"A submarine?" Crosby asked, "You have a plan?"

Steve nodded, "We need to pull back so that we aren't in plain sight. Then I'll slip away. The sub should have a smaller hatch on the other side. I'll be able to sneak in that way."

"No! Just no. We are NOT doing that," Danny protested, "You are not going in there alone. What if Wo Fat shows up and they drive off with you in there?"

"Danny, subs sail, they don't drive. Besides –"

Steve cut himself out abruptly when Makaha suddenly slumped to the ground. Behind him stood Catherine, welding a wrench.

"Hey, Sailor," she called, "You got a way to get me to shore, or do I have to swim?"

Danny was actually speechless, his hands waving in aborted gestures.

Kono laughed, "I like her, boss."

Steve grinned, "How'd you get out there?"

I was Chin that noticed the faint buzzing in the background, "Is that a boat?"

Everyone was immediately on alert. "Cat, you have to get out there," Steve shouted.

She stopped joking around and really did jump into the water to swim the 50 yards to shore. Danny thought that Steve might head into the water himself.

"Chin, we need to the Coast Guard right now." Danny suggested, stepping forward as if getting ready to tackle Steve before he could rush the sub by himself.

Catherine was still in the water when the Makaha's unconscious body was pushed out of the sub and the door was slammed shut.

"Cat! Makaha's drowning!" Steve was running towards the water when the Police Chief's SUV exploded behind them. Parked next it, the car that Five-0 had arrived in also went up. Everyone on the beach was thrown to the ground, metal debris raining down on them.

Steve immediately struggled back to his feet, searching the water, "Cat, where are you!" He spotted her just off shore, unharmed. He did a quick check of the rest of his team, "Everyone okay?"

Chin was helping Kono and Danny up, "We're fine but the sub's leaving!"

They were all forced to watch helplessly as the submarine sailed out of the cove, picking up speed as it went. Catherine reached the shore and flew into Steve's arms. He held her tight while watching Wo Fat escape over behind her.

H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50**** H50****H50****H50

Ten days later, Steve hosted a party on the beach behind his house for his team. Catherine, Rachel, Charlie, Max, and Ben were also there, along with Crosby, Hosoi, and Inouye. Jagger had been released from the hospital but hadn't been up to joining.

Steve was standing apart from everyone else, watching the waves. Danny joined him, a beer in each hand.

Steve took one of the beers, "Not water this time?"

"This is what we need right now." Danny studied his best friend's profile for a moment, "You have to forgive yourself for not catching him. It's not even your fault Makaha drowned. He made his choices."

Steve sighed, "He'll be back. He'll be back and then you'll all be in danger again."

"That's what you're worried about. Well let me tell you something. He will be back, but not for a long time because you broke him. You took his money, his power. You cost him his position in the Yakuza– because they do not tolerate this kind of spectacular failure. It will be a long, long time before Wo Fat comes back," Danny paused to drink some of his beer, "And when he does come back, you and the best team anyone has ever had will be ready for him."

Steve smiled, the tension finally draining out of him, "So you're really going to stick around in Hawaii? Raise a baby here and everything?"

Danny sighed dramatically, "While Rachel has really good job in Honolulu, so I guess that for now, for awhile at least, we'll be here."

"What about you? You have a good job here in Hawaii?" Steve was smirking in that way that said he knew something Danny didn't.

"I don't know. I used to work for this taskforce but then it got disbanded and we got replaced," Danny waved it aside, not wanted to dwell on the fact that an important chapter in his life was over, "What about you? You going back to the Navy?"

Steve shrugged, "Well Catherine gave up a lot in her career to be stationed here. I think that I'd like to see if we can work when we're both staying in one place together."

Danny smiled approvingly, "I'm glad you're sticking around. Ever consider a job with HPD? I warn you that you'll have to learn the Miranda rights."

"Tempting, but I've had other offers. The Navy asked me if I wanted to train SEALs here in Hawaii."

"So you'll be teaching other crazy people how to blow things up in bigger and better way," Danny nodded, "That'll be a good job for you, but I will miss seeing you at the office every day."

"I didn't say that I took the Navy up on their offer," Steve took a drink from his bottle, "I actually had a very interesting meeting with Governor Page yesterday. He offered me my own taskforce to fight crime here in Hawaii. We agreed that a four person team would work best. Have any ideas on who would make a good partner for me?"

Danny couldn't help the huge smile on his face, "You've never been one to listen to me, but if you're asking, I'd love the chance to be your partner again."

Steve smiled back, "I was hoping you'd say that."

"What about Crosby and his people," Danny looked back towards the house the people in question were enjoying themselves.

"Page said that Crosby and I have different styles," Steve ignored Danny's snort, "He said that he's rather be the break holding me back than the engine pushing Crosby forward. Plus, he's making Crosby Chief of Police."

"Am I the last person to know?" Danny asked suddenly.

"Crosby knows. We decided that we'd tell everyone tonight. I wanted to let you know first," Steve looked back towards the lanai pensively, "Do you think Chin and Kono will want to stick around with us?"

Danny laughed, "You wouldn't be able to stop them."

Steve smiled again, "Then let's go tell them. We'll celebrate tonight. Tomorrow there are criminals to catch."


End file.
